TUE APRIL 21 2026-theGBJournal| Nigerian Exchange (NGX) bullish sentiments continued on Tuesday with the benchmark All-Share Index climbing marginally by 7bps to 218,256.63 points as investors rotate into specific stocks.
Sharp gains were seen in UNIONDIC (+9.92%), DANGCEM (+3.3%), WAPCO (+9.6%), FIRSTHOLDCO (+4.4%) and NASCON (+10.0%) amid earnings expectations and sector positioning.
At the same time, steep declines in ABBEYBDS, STANBIC, and ACCESSCO indicate profit-taking in previously strong names.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns advanced to +8.4% and +40.3%, respectively, while market capitalisation also increased by 0.06% to settle at N140.52 trillion, suggesting sustained net inflow.
The total volume of trades decreased by 14.4% to 842.48 million units, valued at N44.86 billion, and exchanged in 61,617 deals.
ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at 110.81 million units, while MTNN was the most traded stock by value at NGN6.55 billion.
On Sectors, the Industrial Goods (+1.6%) and Insurance (+0.2%) indices closed higher while the Banking (-1.3%), Consumer Goods (-0.4%%) and Oil & Gas (-0.1%) indices closed negative.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.6x), as 24 tickers gained relative to 43 losers. LEGENDINT (-9.9%) and ABBEYBDS (-9.6%) led the laggards, while NASCON (+10.0%) and UNIONDICON (+9.9%) recorded the highest gains of the day.
Similarly, the NASD market continued its momentum in today’s session, as the NASD Securities Index (NSI) advanced by 0.56% to close at 3935.27 points. Accordingly, market capitalisation rose by the same margin to settle at N2.35tn.
However, market activity weakened significantly, with total volume and value traded declining sharply by 24.57% and 48.96%, respectively.
On the performance table, SDCSCSPLC (+6.54%) emerged as the top gainer, while SD11PLC (-11.04%) was the sole decliner for the session.
Meanwhile, the naira weakened against the US dollar, with the USD/NGN rising marginally by 0.4% to N1,351.00/USD, reflecting ongoing liquidity management and FX interventions by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).
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