MON APRIL 20 2026-theGBJournal| Nigerian equities market rose higher Monday, largely supported by sustained buying interest across select large- and mid-cap names.
FIRSTHOLDCO (+6.3%), UBA (+8.3%), ACCESSCORP (+9.9%) and WAPCO (+2.5%), NAHCO (+10.0%) and UNIONDICON (+10.0%) were the notable outperformers in today’s session.
Their performance helped drive the All-Share Index higher by 0.4% to 218,115.75 points.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled higher at +8.4% and +40.2%, respectively, market capitalisation also rose by 0.44% (+N443.13 billion), to settle at N140.43 trillion.
The total volumes traded declined by 23.8% to 959.29 million units, valued at NGN48.41 billion, and exchanged in 75,297 deals.
ACCESSCORP was the most traded stock by volume at 91.65 million units, while ZENITHBANK was the most traded stock by value at NGN7.00 billion.
By sectors, the Banking (+2.6%), Oil & Gas (+0.8%), Consumer Goods (+0.4%) and Industrial Goods (+0.4%) indices closed higher, while the Insurance index closed flat.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was neutral (1.0x), as 35 tickers gained relative to 34 losers.
NAHCO (+10.0%) and UNIONDICON (+10.0%) led the gainers, while LIVINGTRUST (-10.0%) and STANBIC (-10.0%) recorded the highest losses of the day.
The NASD Market also opened the week with a positive sentiment, with the NASD Securities Index (NSI) and market capitalisation rising by 0.52% to settle at 3,913.46 points and N2.34trn, respectively.
Market activity was mixed, with the volume rising by 86.42% and and value declining by 37.21%.
SDIPWAPLC (+9.08%) led the market gainers, while there were no decliners recorded in today’s session.
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