The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) witnessed its strongest performance of the year on Thursday, with investors raking in a record N1.76tn gain in a single session. Driven by bullish momentum in banking and insurance stocks, the All-Share Index surged by 2.01 per cent (2,457.13 points) to close at 124,446.80, while market capitalisation soared to N78.5tn. This marks a 2.87 per cent weekly gain, 8.54 per cent monthly gain, and an impressive 20.91 per cent return year-to-date.
The session saw robust trading activity, with 1.28 billion shares valued at N27.73bn exchanged across 27,875 deals—representing a 44 per cent increase in volume, 78 per cent rise in turnover, and 15 per cent uptick in trade count from the previous session. Out of 130 stocks traded, 70 advanced while only 10 declined, signalling broad investor optimism. United Bank for Africa (UBA) led the gainers with a 10 per cent rise to N39.60 per share, followed by Caverton Offshore, FTN Cocoa, Haldane McCall, UPDC, and Consolidated Hallmark—all posting double-digit gains.
Conversely, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals topped the losers’ chart with a 9.91 per cent drop to N9.00, trailed by Legend Internet Technologies, Industrial and Medical Gases, Cadbury, Livestock Feeds, and Lasaco Assurance. Access Holdings recorded the highest volume of trades with 174.2 million shares worth N3.99bn. Aiico Insurance, Japaul Gold, UBA, and FCMB also featured prominently in the most traded volume list. In value terms, Nigerian Breweries trailed only Access Holdings with N3.87bn in trades.
Sectoral performance underscored the breadth of the rally. The NGX Premium Index jumped 4.43 per cent, while the Insurance and Banking indices climbed 3.96 per cent and 3.86 per cent, respectively. Gains were also recorded in the Pension (3.04 per cent) and Consumer Goods (1.15 per cent) indices. The rally extended gains from Wednesday, when investors booked a N212bn rise in market value, driven by fresh interest in heavyweight stocks across major sectors.
