Dangote, Tier-1 Banks Lead Gains as NGX Tops N160trn
Dangote Cement Plc and Tier-1 banks led gains in the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) as market capitalisation topped N160 trillion, its all-time high.
Sentiment remained positive as the local bourse commenced the week on a bullish note as Q1 earnings optimism fuelled bargain hunting.
Buying interest was seen in 62 tickers, including heavily weighted counters such as FIRSTHOLDCO (+9.96%), DANGCEM (+8.46%), GTCO (+6.25%), ETI (+5.68%), ZENITHBANK (+4.76%), WAPCO (+3.33%), BUACEMENT (+2.90%), and MTNN (+2.32%).
With the price appreciation, the local bourse advanced by +2.33% on the day, the NGX All-share index (ASI) closed at 250,485.54 points, lifting the year-to-date return to +60.97%.
Trading activity was elevated, with transaction volume rising by +33.12% to 1.51bn units and transaction value increasing by +27.72% to NGN70.10bn.
Activity was prominent across financial sector tickers, with VERITASKAP (194.63mn units), ACCESSCORP (172.27mn units), FIRSTHOLDCO (148.93mn units), and FCMB (123.90mn units) leading the volume chart, while MTNN (NGN12.39bn) and FIRSTHOLDCO (NGN11.06bn) led the value chart.
Furthermore, market breadth strengthened to 2.38x from 1.33x, with 62 tickers gaining, led by CHAMS, FTNCOCOA, LIVESTOCK, RTBRISCOE, and INTENEGINS, each advancing by +10.00%, and 26 stocks lagging, led by PRESTIGE (-10.00%).
Broad-based positive sentiment was evident across all sectoral indices. The NGX Banking sector led the gains, up +4.67%, as all banks except FCMB (-0.44%) and STERLINGNG (-0.64%) closed higher.
Strong buying interest was also noted in NGX Industrial Goods, which gained +4.32%, on the back of appreciation in BERGER (+9.99%), BUACEMENT, DANGCEM, and WAPCO.
NGX Consumer Goods and NGX Insurance also gained +0.74% and +0.59%, respectively, lifted by advances in UNILEVER (+7.14%), NASCON (+6.73%), INTENEGINS, AIICO (+4.14%), WAPIC (+3.59%), and NB (+3.51%). Likewise, gains in ETERNA (+8.79%) and JAPAULGOLD (+3.12%) lifted NGX Oil and Gas slightly by +0.03%.
