The Nigerian equities market sustained its bullish momentum on Thursday with gains across Industrial Goods, Consumer Goods, and Insurance stocks, thereby raising the market capitalization by 0.77% to close at N66.66 trillion.
The improved performance of the local bourse was largely due to gains by WAPCO 10%, VITAFOAM 9.97%, CADBURY 10%, and NESTLE 10%, among others, even as the the NGX All-Share Index (NGXASI) advanced by 0.75% to close at 106,074.26 points.
Also, the boost in market capitalization was driven partly by the listing of Legend Internet Plc (LEGENDINT), which introduced 2 billion shares of 50 kobo each at N5.64 per share by way of introduction as well as blue chip stock market gains, leading to N508.144 billion gain by investors.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on the day’s trading session showed that WAPCO led the gainers chart with a 10%, following its declaration of an interim dividend of N4 after releasing its Q1 2025 results. The financial statements showed the manufacturing company recorded 80.26% growth in revenue and 836.71% increase in profit after tax (PAT) compared to Q1 2024.
Also, ETERNA, CADBURY, NESTLE, and IKEJAHOTEL also posted the daily maximum gain of 10%, as anticipation builds around Q1 2025 earnings reports, with more results expected in the coming days.
A further analysis of the NGX trading data reflected bullish sectoral performance as all indices closed in the green, except the Banking Index, which closed negatively despite sustained buying interest in ACCESSCORP 0.84% and GTCO 0.16%, as losses in UBA (-2.72%), FIDELITYBK (-1.23%), and FIRSTHOLDCO (-0.60%) weighed the sector down.
Conversely, the Insurance sector led with an impressive 4.32% gain, driven by gains in AFRIPRUD 9.93%, NEM 9.93%, CORNERST 9.89%, and CONHALLPLC 7.14%, followed by Consumer Goods Index with a 2.35% rise, buoyed by strong performances in CADBURY 10.00%, NESTLE 10.00%, DANGSUGAR 9.92%, HONYFLOUR 0.43%, INTBREW 9.38%, MCNICHOLS 8.07%, and NASCON 9.91%.
The Industrial Goods Index gained 1.27%, supported by increases in WAPCO 10% and VITAFOAM 9.97%. Meanwhile, the Oil and Gas sector rose by 0.27%, fueled by gains in ETERNA 10% and OANDO 2.79%.
The data further indicated that Banking stocks dominated the volume chart led by ACCESSCORP, which contributed to 14.78% of the total volume traded followed by FIDELITYBK, which accounted for 12.30% of the total volume traded, while MTNN dominated the value chart exchanging N1.42 billion in value and a 2.51% price gain to close at N245.
Meanwhile, report from the foreign exchange (FX) market also was impressive as the Naira appreciated marginally against the US dollar, exchanging at N1,602.30/$1.
