NGX sustained bullist run, investors gain N170.71bn

The local equities sustained its bullish momentum for the fifth consecutive session, as the NGX All Share Index (ASI) rose by 0.19%, to close at 142,979.46 points. Consequently, the year-to-date return edged higher to 38.91% from the 38.65% recorded in the previous session, while market capitalisation also appreciated by N170.71bn to settle at N90.75trn. The positive performance was driven by buying interest in select large and mid-cap stocks including, GTCO (+2.13%), MTNN (+0.47%), PZ (+10.00%), and NB (+1.71%), which offset sell pressure in banking names such as FIRSTHOLDCO (-1.59%), FIDELITYBK (-2.38%), ETI (-1.94%), and UBA (-0.46%).
Sectoral performance was broadly positive, with only the Industrial Goods Index (-0.02%) closing in the red. The Insurance Index (+0.42%) led the gainers, followed by the Consumer Goods (+0.35%), Banking (+0.17%), and Oil & Gas (+0.12%) indices. Market activity strengthened significantly, with the transaction volume and value rising by 402.50% and 82.57%, respectively. CONERST (+0.00%) dominated the trading activity with 5.44bn units volume of transactions, valued at N25.06bn worth of trades. Market breadth closed positive at 1.31x, indicating more gainers than decliners. PZ (+10.00%) led the thirty-three (33) gainers, while RTBRISCOE (-9.89%) topped the twenty-six (26) laggards, with the remaining stocks closing flat.