The bullish sentiment in the Nigerian equities market strengthened on Tuesday, as the NGX All-Share Index rose by 1.01 per cent to close at a new all-time high of 151,456.91 points.
This extended the positive momentum in the market, lifting the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns to 6.1 per cent and 47.2 per cent, respectively.

Consequently, investors gained N962.31 billion as market capitalisation rose to N96.13 trillion, buoyed by sustained interest in heavyweight counters such as BUA Foods, which gained 6.54 per cent; Aradel Holdings, which rose by 4.90 per cent; FirstBank Holdings, which increased by 4.46 per cent; Transcorp, which added 1.46 per cent; and Lafarge Africa, which advanced by 1.10 per cent.

These gains offset mild profit-taking in GTCO, which dipped 0.32 per cent; Access Holdings, which declined 1.77 per cent; Sterling Financial Holdings, which fell 3.70 per cent; and Zenith Bank, which shed 0.15 per cent.

However, market sentiment closed negative, as 26 stocks advanced against 30 decliners, translating to a market breadth of 0.9 times. SCOA gained 7.74 per cent and Omatek rose 7.5 per cent to top the gainers’ chart, while LivingTrust lost 9.9 per cent and Conoil fell 5.83 per cent to lead the laggards.

Sectoral performance was broadly positive, driven by strong buying interest in the Consumer Goods, Oil and Gas, Insurance, Banking, and Industrial Goods indices, which rose by 3.5 per cent, 2.0 per cent, 0.4 per cent, 0.2 per cent, and 0.2 per cent, respectively.

Market activity showed a mixed trend, with total volume traded rising by 34.96 per cent to 551.92 million units, while trade value dipped by 23.04 per cent to N20.54 billion, exchanged in 27,518 deals. Fidelity Bank emerged as the most traded stock by volume with 59.12 million units, while GTCO led by value with transactions worth N2.92 billion.

The continued uptrend reflects renewed investor confidence amid improving macroeconomic indicators and sustained demand for bellwether stocks. However, analysts expect the market to maintain its positive tone in the near term, supported by portfolio rebalancing and corporate earnings expectations.

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