Financial and Energy Stocks Lift NGX Market Cap to N158.40tn

Aggressive buying in heavyweight financial and energy equities pushed the Nigerian Exchange market capitalisation up by N650bn on Tuesday, closing at N158.40tn from N157.75tn in the previous session.

The benchmark All-Share Index rose 2,081.41 points to settle at 244,304.51 points, its highest level since the market touched a weekly low of 242,223.10 points on September 9. Trading volume stood at 520.65 million shares across 71,977 deals, driven by sustained institutional appetite for growth-oriented tickers.

Sectoral indices stay broadly bullish

The NGX Premium Index appreciated to 30,275.09 points, while the NGX 30 Index closed higher at 8,989.03 points. Energy counters lifted the NGX Oil and Gas Index to 6,035.23 points. The NGX Consumer Goods Index rose to 4,081.31 points and the NGX Banking Index to 2,548.00 points.

Two indices bucked the trend. The NGX Insurance Index dipped to 1,051.62 points, and the NGX Industrial Index slid to 9,936.57 points.

Investors continued to price in macroeconomic headwinds after the Central Bank of Nigeria retained the Monetary Policy Rate at 26.50 per cent.

NGX Group and Aradel lead gainers

Nigerian Exchange Group Plc topped the gainers' chart with a 9.95 per cent jump to close at N179.00 per share. Aradel Holdings Plc followed, adding N136.00 to end at N1,550.00 per share, a 9.62 per cent gain.

Sovereign Trust Insurance Plc advanced 9.50 per cent to N1.96, McNichols Consolidated Plc rose 9.09 per cent to N4.80, and International Breweries Plc climbed 8.50 per cent to N10.85 per share.

On the losing side, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated shed 10.00 per cent to close at N66.60 per share. Trans-Nationwide Express Plc declined 9.93 per cent to N2.45, AVA Capital Plc lost 9.90 per cent to finish at N4.55, and PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc contracted 9.52 per cent to N75.10 per share. BUA Cement Plc dropped 2.91 per cent to end at N270.00 per share.

Moderate activity in ETFs and bonds

In the Exchange-Traded Funds segment, SIAML Pension ETF 40 rallied 9.69 per cent to close at N2,190.00 per share, while Lotus Halal Equity ETF appreciated 7.55 per cent to N129.46 per share.

In the debt market, investors traded 12,012 units of bonds across five deals. The 17.121 per cent FGS JUN 2028 bond fell 1.00 per cent to N99.00 per unit.

The session shows local institutional money is still willing to take positions in banking and energy names despite the high interest rate environment. For Nigerian businesses and consumers, a rising equities market offers some counterweight to the tight monetary stance, though the gains remain concentrated in a handful of heavyweight counters.