Bulls extend dominance at NGX trading, ASI up 1.0%

Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All Share Index (ASI) has seen significant gain during an intraday rally on Wednesday, with second quarter of 2025 earnings releases fueling bargain hunting. Trading catalysts are increasing from fear of missing out on the monster rally in the equity market plus the strong earnings performance release by Nigerian listed companies. The fact that some companies are recovering from earnings downturns makes their current results quite impressive with huge interim dividend declarations. The market is still waiting for some banking names to start pushing out the financial scorecard, and stockbrokers anticipate different patterns of interim dividends from financial services operators. At midday, the NGX All-Share Index rose by 0.87%, Alpha Morgan Limited told investors in an emailed note, indicating positive market sentiment. Stockbrokers reported that upward movement was fueled by renewed investor interest in some mid- to high-capitalized stocks. Top intraday gainers in the market include PZ (9.89%), NASCON (8.70%), WAPCO (8.34%), DANGSUGAR (8.19%), FIDELITYBK (4.88%), and MTNN (4.32%).
Others include GTCO (4.03%), STERLINGNG (2.99%), NB (2.50%), FCMB (1.46%), CADBURY (1.34%), ACCESSCORP (1.10%), WEMABANK (0.26%), and ARADEL (0.23%), among others. The Exchange continued its bullish trend as price appreciation in MTNN (+4.3%), WAPCO (+7.6 %), and GTCO (+4.0%) pushed the NGX-ASI up 1.0% to 139,278.67 points. As a result, YTD return rose to 35.3% (previously: 34.0%), while market capitalisation gained 1.0% to N88.1tn. Activity level varied as volume traded dipped 2.0% to 922.0m units while value traded rose to 15.6%. Performance across our coverage sectors was mixed as four indices gained while the other two lost. The AFR-ICT and Banking indices led the gainers, up 2.3% and 1.9%, respectively, due to buying interest in MTNN (+4.3%), CWG (+0.6%), GTCO (+4.0%), and ZENITH (+2.7%).
Following, the Industrial and Consumer Goods indices rose 1.3% and 0.1% respectively, owing to price appreciation in WAPCO (+7.6%), BERGER (+10.0%), NASCON (+8.6%) and PZ (+9.9%). On the flip side, the Insurance and Oil & Gas indices dipped 0.9% and 0.1%, accordingly, due to sell pressure on SUNUASSU (-9.6%), AlICO (-2.6%), OANDO (-1.4%), and JAPAULGO (-4.2%). Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, weakened to 0.13x (previously: 0.50x) as 39 stocks gained, 32 lost, while 56 were unchanged. Tomorrow, we expect the bullish trend to persist in the absence of any negative triggers.