The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) closed Wednesday’s trading session on a bullish note, driven by a strong rally in the banking sector led by UBA, First Holdco, Access Holdings, and Zenith Bank.
The surge pushed the All-Share Index (ASI) closer to the 220,000-point milestone.
Key performance indicators rose by 0.61%, reflecting increased investor interest in fundamentally solid midcap and blue-chip stocks across major market sectors.
Consequently, the ASI added 1,336.39 basis points to close at 219,586.20, while Market Capitalization gained ₦860.89 billion to finish at ₦141.38 trillion.
Despite the price appreciation, market activity slowed down, with total trade volume and value declining by 18.85% and 19.38%, respectively.
According to data on the NGX website, approximately 683.68 million units valued at ₦36,167.35 million were transacted across 51,694 deals.
First Holdco dominated the activity charts, accounting for 11.23% of the total volume and 16.03% of the total trade value. Other volume leaders included UBA (8.10%), AccessCorp (7.68%), GTCO (5.48%), and Japaul Gold (4.42%).
The market breadth closed positive, with 31 gainers against 28 losers.
Five major sectoral indices also closed in the green, led by the Banking Index, which rose by 2.03% due to sustained buying interest in First Holdco.
The Insurance Index followed with a 1.07% gain, supported by Mansard (+3.45%), while the Consumer Goods Index climbed 0.45% behind NASCON’s strong performance. The Industrial Goods (+0.15%) and Oil & Gas (+0.02%) indices also recorded marginal gains, while the Commodities Index remained flat.