Renewed bargain hunting in Seplat Energy Plc and UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (UPDCREIT) lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) higher by 15 basis points on Thursday, returning the domestic equities market to positive territory.
The benchmark index appreciated by 0.15 percent to close at 246,388.22 points, adding approximately N238.37 billion to aggregate market valuation and pushing total market capitalisation up to N159.15 trillion.
The performance consolidated the market’s year-to-date return at 58.33 percent.
Trading turnover recorded modest gains across standard market parameters.
The aggregate volume of traded equities increased by 1.71 percent to 433.97 million units, while aggregate transaction value climbed by 3.48 percent to N29.26 billion.
Market activity registered 42,217 executed deals, representing a 2.00 percent expansion compared to the preceding session, which logged 426.66 million shares valued at N28.27 billion across 41,391 deals.
Despite the headline index advance, overall market breadth closed negative at 0.67x, as 22 advancing counters were outmatched by 33 decliners, indicating that the index gain was concentrated in high-capitalisation equities rather than widespread across the bourse.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) dominated both liquidity and volume metrics, accounting for 113.26 million shares valued at approximately N5.23 billion traded across 1,107 deals. Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) trailed on the turnover value leaderboard, generating transactions worth roughly N4.55 billion executed across 2,568 deals.
Seplat Energy led the gainers’ table with a maximum 10.00 percent share price increase, followed by UPDCREIT, which advanced by 9.88 percent, and Learn Africa, which gained 9.49 percent.
Conversely, the decliners’ chart was led by R.T. Briscoe, which shed 10.00 percent, followed by Capital Metal Fabricators (-9.86 percent), and Sovereign Trust Insurance (-9.73 percent).
Sectoral performance reflected widespread divergence at the sound of the closing gong. The Oil & Gas index led the gainers with a 2.49 percent appreciation, followed by the Commodity index (+1.62 percent), Insurance (+0.67 percent), and Industrial Goods (+0.23 percent).
The Banking and Consumer Goods indices exerted downward pressure on the market, declining by 0.85 percent and 0.39 percent, respectively.