The Nigerian stock market on Tuesday reopened after the Easter holiday on a bullish note, as investors recorded a gain of N208 billion amid renewed buying interest in key equities.
Market capitalisation rose by 0.16 per cent, increasing from N129.806 trillion at the opening of trading to N130.014 trillion at the close.
In the same vein, the All-Share Index advanced by 324.21 points, or 0.16 per cent, to settle at 202,023.10, compared with 201,698.89 recorded in the previous session. This pushed the year-to-date return to 29.82 per cent.
The positive performance was largely driven by buying interest in stocks such as Trans-Nationwide Express, Omatek Ventures, Cadbury Nigeria, First Holding Company, and Fortis Global Insurance, alongside 19 others.
Despite the overall market gain, sentiment remained weak as market breadth closed negative, with 37 losers against 24 gainers.
Ellah Lakes topped the losers’ chart, shedding 10 per cent to close at N10.80 per share. Daar Communications declined by 9.95 per cent to N1.72, while CHAMS dropped 9.87 per cent to N3.38 per share.
John Holt also fell by 9.71 per cent to close at N13.95, while Sunu Assurances dipped 9.68 per cent to N4.20 per share.
On the gainers’ side, Trans-Nationwide Express led with a 9.86 per cent increase to close at N3.12 per share. Omatek Ventures rose by 9.76 per cent to N2.25, while Cadbury Nigeria gained 9.53 per cent to close at N75.25 per share.
First Holding Company appreciated by 9.10 per cent to N54.55, and Fortis Global Insurance climbed 6.50 per cent to N1.31 per share.
Trading activity improved significantly, with a total of 1.15 billion shares valued at N40.3 billion exchanged in 78,006 deals.
This represents a notable increase from the 559.9 million shares worth N19.26 billion traded in 49,676 deals recorded in the previous session.
Wema Bank led the activity chart by volume with 282.6 million shares valued at N7.3 billion. Access Corporation followed with 125.2 million shares worth N3.3 billion, while VFD Group traded 106.8 million shares valued at N1.13 billion.
Also, First Holding Company recorded 62.9 million shares worth N3.2 billion, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company traded 56.6 million shares valued at N7.05 billion.
