Investors Rebound with ₦425bn Gain as NGX Closes Week Strong

|By Adejumo Adekunle

Investors at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) bounced back on Friday, erasing a three-day losing streak with a robust ₦425 billion gain that lifted the market to a positive weekly close.

Fresh buying interest in Beta Glass, FTN Cocoa Processors, UPDC, Veritas Kapital Assurance, Sovereign Trust Insurance, and 46 other stocks drove the rally.

Market data showed that capitalisation surged 0.48%, rising from ₦88.783 trillion on Thursday to ₦89.208 trillion. The All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 671.70 points to close at 141,004.14.

The upbeat session also recorded a strong market breadth with 51 gainers against 13 losers. Beta Glass topped the gainers’ chart with a 10% leap to ₦449.35, followed by UPDC, FTN Cocoa, Veritas Kapital, and Sovereign Trust Insurance.

On the flip side, Thomas Wyatt Nigeria led the losers’ table after sliding 9.91% to close at ₦3.00, while McNichols, The Initiates Plc, E-Tranzact International, and NPF Microfinance Bank also posted declines.

Trading activity soared as volume, value, and deals spiked significantly. Investors exchanged 1.30 billion shares worth ₦47.84 billion across 25,916 deals, compared to 573.75 million shares valued at ₦12.88 billion in 25,881 transactions on Thursday.

Zenith Bank dominated the activity chart with 345.5 million shares worth ₦21.2 billion.