Nigerian Stock Exchange Sees N132 Billion Market Capitalization Gain

The Nigerian Stock Exchange experienced a N132 billion increase in market capitalization at the close of trading on Wednesday.

The market capitalization opened at N56.031 trillion and closed at N56.163 trillion, marking a 0.24 percent or N132 billion gain.

The All-Share Index rose by 0.24 percent or 233.4 points, closing at 99,284.38 compared to 99,051.02 on Tuesday. Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 32.78 percent.

Key contributors to the market’s recovery included Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings, Stanbic IBTC, Fidelity Bank, Wema Bank, Nigerian Breweries, and Nestle Nigeria.

Despite these gains, market breadth was negative, with 24 decliners outnumbering 18 advancers.

Oando led the losers’ list, dropping by 9.86 percent to close at N12.80. Linkage Assurance followed, falling by 9.41 percent to 77 kobo, and Sovereign Trust declined by 8.70 percent to 42 kobo per share. Veritas Kapital and Wapic Insurance also saw significant losses, declining by 8.70 percent and 8.50 percent, respectively.

On the positive side, Eterna Plc led the gainers, rising by 9.80 percent to close at N13.45, followed by Red Star Express Plc, which increased by 9.76 percent to N3.71 per share. Stanbic IBTC advanced by 9.62 percent to N57, Fidelity Bank added eight percent to reach N10.80, and International Breweries rose by seven percent to close at N3.99 per share.

Trade turnover decreased compared to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 36.49 percent. A total of 308.14 million shares valued at N4.86 billion were traded in 7,690 deals, compared to 347.39 million shares valued at N7.66 billion in 8,122 deals in the prior session.

Fidelity Bank led in both volume and value, with 84.05 million shares worth N883.22 million traded. Oando followed with 52.52 million shares valued at N710.81 million. Veritas Kapital sold 19.40 million shares worth N12.45 million, Unity Bank traded 11.98 million shares valued at N15.38 million, and Transnational Corporation exchanged 11.13 million shares worth N117.66 million.