Equity Investors Gain N410bn as NGX Rally Persists Despite Negative Breadth

Equity investors added about N410bn to their portfolios on Wednesday as Nigerian stocks with strong upside potential sustained the New Year rally on the Nigerian Exchange, despite a session marked by more decliners than advancers.

The NGX All-Share Index extended its upward movement, rising 0.40 per cent to close at 160,591.76 points, underscoring continued bargain hunting in select large-cap stocks. Market capitalisation also advanced by N409.66bn to N102.68trn, reflecting the positive price movements recorded during the session.

However, overall market sentiment remained cautious, as sell-offs in several counters outweighed gains. Market breadth closed negative at 0.95x, with 37 stocks declining against 35 gainers.

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Strong rallies in heavyweight stocks provided the market’s major lift. SEPLAT and OKOMUOIL both appreciated by the full 10.00 per cent, while WAPCO gained 3.91 percent, more than offsetting losses in stocks such as ETI, which shed 8.50 per cent, and ARADEL, down 1.50 percent.

SEPLAT, OKOMUOIL and UNIONDICON topped the gainers’ table with 10.00 per cent price appreciation each, while CADBURY led the laggards, falling by 10.00 percent.

Sectoral performance closed mixed. The Oil and Gas index emerged as the best performer, climbing 3.88 per cent, followed by the Commodity sector, which rose 2.75 per cent. The insurance index advanced by 1.08 percent, while the industrial goods and consumer goods indices increased by 0.50 per cent and 0.48 per cent respectively. In contrast, the banking index declined by 0.98 per cent, reflecting profit-taking in select banking stocks.

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Trading activity improved markedly, with total volume traded surging 90.84 percent to 1.42 billion shares, while transaction value rose by 4.64 percent to N20.3 billion. However, the number of deals executed fell by 9.03 per cent to 48,789, indicating cautious investor participation.

Market watchers note that while the sustained rise in key indices signals resilience, the persistent negative breadth suggests selective positioning by investors, with a preference for fundamentally strong stocks amid ongoing portfolio rebalancing.