MON MAY 11 2026-theGBJournal| The Nigerian equities market opened the week on a strong bullish trajectory, buoyed by renewed investor appetite for fundamentally sound and large-cap stocks.
Sustained bargain hunting in bellwether counters, particularly DANGCEM (+8.5%), MTNN (+2.3%), GTCO (+6.3%), and FIRSTHOLDCO (+10.0%), propelled the All-Share Index (ASI) upward by 2.3% to close at 250,481.42 points.
The positive momentum further strengthened the market’s performance metrics, with the Month-to-Date (MTD) return improving to +3.4%, while the Year-to-Date (YTD) return climbed to an impressive +61.0%, underscoring the resilience of the domestic equities market amid prevailing macroeconomic uncertainties.
Market activity also witnessed a notable uptick, reflecting heightened trading interest across key sectors.
Total transaction volume rose by 17.2% to 1.49 billion units, while the value of trades settled at N68.45 billion across 94,834 deals. VERITASKAP emerged as the most actively traded stock by volume, accounting for 194.63 million units exchanged, whereas MTNN led the market by value traded at N12.39 billion, indicating strong institutional participation in the telecom heavyweight.
Sectoral performance was largely positive, with gains recorded across most major indices. The Banking index led sectoral advances, rising by 4.7% on the back of strong buying interest in tier-one banking names.
The Industrial Goods index followed closely with a 4.3% gain, supported primarily by the sharp appreciation in DANGCEM.
Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices advanced by 0.7% and 0.6%, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Oil & Gas index closed flat, reflecting muted investor sentiment within the energy space.
Investor sentiment remained decisively positive, as reflected in market breadth, which settled at a strong 2.7x ratio with 57 gainers against 21 losers.
LIVESTOCK and CHAMS topped the gainers’ chart after both stocks appreciated by the maximum daily limit of 10.0%. Conversely, PRESTIGE and SOVRENINS led the laggards after shedding 10.0% each.
In the foreign exchange market, the naira weakened further against the US dollar, with the official exchange rate depreciating by 1.1% to NGN1,375.00/USD, highlighting the continued pressure within the FX market despite improving sentiment in the equities space.
X-@theGBJournal|Facebook-the Government and Business Journal|email:gbj@govbusinessjournal.com|govandbusinessj@gmail.com
