Equities market rises by N143bn as Guinness, others lead gains

Nigerian investors saw a total gain of N143 billion in the equities market on Thursday, driven by strong performance from several stocks, including Guinness Nigeria, Eunisell Interlinked Plc, and Regal Insurance.

The All-Share Index (ASI), a key market indicator, rose to 142,263.07 points, up from 142,036.23 points the previous day.

This upward movement pushed the overall market capitalization to N90.005 trillion from N89.8 trillion.

Despite the market's overall gain, market breadth was negative, as more stocks declined than advanced. A total of 30 stocks appreciated, while 20 declined, and 97 remained unchanged after 22,779 deals.

Guinness Nigeria led the list of top gainers with a 10% increase, closing at N176.00 per share. Eunisell Interlinked Plc also saw a significant gain of 9.89%, reaching N30.55, and Regal Insurance rose by 9.82% to N1.79 per share.

Conversely, the top losers were led by Consolidated Hallmark Plc, which fell by 7.95% to N4.02. The Initiate Place followed with a 7.48% drop to N12.00, while Sovereign Insurance Plc declined by 6.21% to N2.87 per share.

Trading volume was dominated by financial institutions. Access Holding Plc topped the chart with 37 million shares traded in 1,175 deals. Zenith Bank Plc was a close second with 24 million shares in 1,475 deals, and Fidelity Bank Plc traded 20 million shares in 493 deals.

In terms of trade value, Zenith Bank led with equities worth N1.6 billion, followed by Aradel Holding at N1.1 billion, and Access Holding at N1.0 billion.