Investors pocket N364bn as NGX ends Bullish

By Rukayat Adeyemi

The Nigerian equities market closed on a bullish note Wednesday, adding N364 billion to investors’ wealth, driven by the release of full-year 2024 financial results from listed firms.

Market capitalisation, which opened at N64.156 trillion, gained N364 billion or 0.57 per cent to close at N64.520 trillion.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 591 points or 0.57 per cent to settle at 104,549.74 from 103,958.75 recorded on Tuesday. This pushed the Year-To-Date (YTD) return to 1.58 per cent.

Despite the positive market sentiment, breadth remained negative, with 38 losers outpacing 27 gainers.

Top Losers:
McNichols and Caverton led the decline, shedding 10 per cent each to close at N1.44 and N2.07 per share, respectively. Thomas Wyatt lost 9.80 per cent to settle at N1.84, Veritas Kapital dipped 9.79 per cent to N1.29, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance dropped nine per cent to N2.73 per share.

Top Gainers:
Aradel Holdings led the gainers’ chart with a 10 per cent increase to close at N594 per share. Chellarams Plc followed with a 9.98 per cent rise to N5.40. Stanbic IBTC advanced 9.92 per cent to N71.45, UPL gained 9.64 per cent to N5.12, while Daar Communications rose 9.09 per cent to close at 84k per share.

Trading Activity:
Market activity remained strong as the total value of trades on the Exchange climbed by 9.99 per cent. Investors exchanged 421.62 million shares worth N15 billion across 16,256 deals, compared with the previous session’s 542.23 million shares valued at N13.636 billion in 15,561 deals.

Universal Insurance topped the activity chart by volume, trading 33.6 million shares, while Aradel Holdings led in value at N6.3 billion. (NAN)