Equities ASI grows by 0.54%, as trading turnover hits ₦58bn

The Nigerian equities market resumed its upward trajectory as the benchmark All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 0.54%, driven by heavy institutional buying and a massive surge in liquidity.

This latest rally pushes the market’s year-to-date return to an impressive 57.25%, solidifying its position as one of the region’s top-performing financial markets.

Market activity shifted into high gear during the session, with trading volumes exploding by 92.25% to reach 1.27 billion shares.

Total transaction value followed a similar trajectory, climbing 99.06% to settle at ₦58.01 billion.

Market analysts attribute this liquidity surge to renewed local and foreign investor participation, alongside aggressive bargain-hunting across high-liquidity boards.

Despite the prominent upward movement in the benchmark index, underlying market breadth closed in the negative territory. A total of 41 declining stocks managed to outweigh 37 gainers, indicating that the session’s gains were primarily propped up by heavily weighted tickers rather than a broad-market rally.

Sectoral performance leaned positive across the board, with the banking sector consolidating its position as the engine room of the day’s turnover.

The sector cleared the highest volume and value of transactions, fueled by relentless interest in tier-one lenders.

Meanwhile, the elite NGX 30 Index stood out as the day’s best-performing segment, benefiting significantly from strategic reallocations into large-cap giants across the banking, telecommunications, and energy ecosystems.

On the performance leaderboard, telecommunications heavyweight Airtel Africa and International Energy Insurance clinched the top spots on the gainers’ matrix.

Conversely, profit-taking activities dragged down other sectors, with agricultural giant Okomu Oil Palm Company and aviation logistics firm Nigerian Aviation Handling Company recording the day’s sharpest price contractions.

Looking forward, investment desks expect market participants to remain highly selective, balancing high-yield fixed-income alternatives against fundamentally sound equities on the exchange.