The Nigerian Exchange Group Limited, NGX, has continued on its bullish trajectory as Wednesday’s trading activities ended with the benchmark index rising 0.50%.
Gains in MTN NIGERIA COMMUNICATIONS PLC (+4.64%), FIDELITY BANK PLC (+4.74%) and ZENITH BANK PLC (+0.58%) drove the All-Share Index higher by 723.83 basis points or 0.50% to 145,719.09 basis points from 144,995.26 basis points.
Thereby outweighing losses in DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC (-6.10%), TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION PLC (-1.01%), and NEM (-5.46%).
Similarly, the market capitalisation rose by 0.50% or 459 billion Naira to 92,490 trillion Naira compared to Tuesday’s 92,031 trillion Naira, even as the month-to-date and year-to-date returns moderated to +2.1% and +41.58%, respectively.
The total volume of trades increased by 3.61% to 525.73 million units of shares, while the value decreased by 43.95% to N13.61 billion, and was exchanged in 25,597 deals.
FIRST HOLDCO PLC was the most traded stock by volume at 36.54 million units, while GUARANTY TRUST HOLDING COMPANY PLC was the most traded stock by value at N1.80 billion.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative with 29 advancing stocks relative to 34 decliners.
FTN COCOA PROCESSORS PLC (8.89), LIVESTOCK FEEDS PLC (7.43), and ETERNA PLC. ( 6.96) led the advancers chart while INDUSTRIAL & MEDICAL GASES NIGERIA PLC (-9.97), LIVINGTRUST MORTGAGE BANK PLC (-9.93), and SUNU ASSURANCES NIGERIA PLC. (-9.48) were the top three decliners for the day.
On sectors, the Oil & Gas (+0.6%) and Banking (+0.1%) indices advanced while the Insurance (-0.8%) index declined. The Industrial Goods and Consumer Goods indices closed flat.