Barely 24 hours after investors lost over N119 billion to bearish sentiment in the Nigerian Exchange, the stock market on Thursday rebounded with the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) rising by 0.58%, thereby jacking up the year-to-date (YTD) return to investors to 1.81%.
The development resulted in the market capitalization gaining N377.81 billion to peak at N65.84 trillion at the end of the trading session.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange Group reflected that local bourse’s rally was largely driven by broad sector-wide gains.
According to the data, market breadth improved to 4.09x from the previous day’s 1.43x, as 45 gainers outpaced 11 losers reflecting a strong bullish sentiment across the trading spectrum
The sectoral performance indicated that four out of the five sectors traded in the green except the Industrial index, which declined by 0.03% as loss in CAP (-7.45%) weighed down the index. The Insurance Index was the best performer with a 2.69% increase following gains in MBENEFIT 9.30%, PRESTIGE 9.20%, AFRIPRUD 8.68%, SOVRENINS 8.24% and AIICO 5.15%.
Similarly, despite declines in ACCESSCORP (-1.19%), the Banking Index also rise buoyed by FIDELITYBK 8.94%, ZENITHBANK 4.02%, UBA 3.52% and WEMABANK 1.39% just as the Consumer Goods index appreciated by 0.59% buoyed by gains in HONYFLOUR 8.87%, INTBREW 3.00%, DANGSUGAR 3.37% offset loss in CHAMPION (-2.53%). The Oil and Gas index also recorded a gain of 0.08% following gains in JAPAULGOLD and OANDO.
A further analysis of the indices based on volume and value of stocks traded showed that ACCESSCORP dominated both the volume and value charts, accounting for 18% of total market volume. It traded 77.86 million units valued at N1.62 billion, even as its share price declined by (-1.19%) to close at N20.75,
Meanwhile, the global equities also rebounded following the announcement of a 90-day pause on U.S. tariffs, which analysts believe could potentially ease trade tensions.
The developing tariff war between the U.S and particularly among major economies over the past few weeks had earlier dampened investor sentiment.
But the latest announcement by President Donald Trump on the pusing of the tariff has triggered broad-based gains across international markets. Globally, while some stocks are still declining, the rate of losses has notably slowed
