The Nigerian Exchange Limited’s All-Share Index reached an all-time high of 68,279.14 basis points just a week after breaking a 15-year record on March 5, 2008.
According to The Punch, on Monday, the ASI increased 1.11 percent to 68,279.14. Also, last Tuesday, the ASI reached 66,490.34 points.
The spectacular increase in banking stock prices, led by financial organizations like Zenith Bank and GTCO, was largely responsible for the exceptional success.
Investors took a calculated risk to profit on the recent strong earnings reports published by a few banks over the weekend. The demand for shares of BUA Foods also contributed to the upbeat market mood.
Due to this interest, the market capitalization increased noticeably by N411 billion, finishing at N37.369 trillion as opposed to the earlier number of N36.958 trillion. The year-to-date return increased to 33.22 percent thanks to this outstanding performance.
The Banking Index, which boasted a notable gain of 5.65%, was in the lead thanks to strong showings from Zenith Bank and GTCO. In contrast to the Insurance Index’s losses of 2.81 percent and the Industrial Index’s decline of 0.14 percent, the Consumer Goods Index saw gains of 1.57 percent. The NGX Oil and Gas Index held steady in the meanwhile.
A significant increase in market activity was observed, with trading volume leaping by 67.88% to 845.680m units and the value of stocks moved rising by 88.56% to N13.03bn. This was clear in 11,934 transactions, as opposed to the 503.74 million units, N6.91 billion in value, and 7,606 transactions of the prior session.
With 75.411 million shares sold for a total value of N2.79 billion, Zenith Bank stood out as the activity leader. GTCO sold 54.80 million shares for N2.20 billion next, and Dangote Sugar sold 20.85 million shares for N1.38 billion.
With 39 stocks seeing increases in value and 19 stocks seeing decreases, market breadth concluded on a high note. With an amazing 10% increase in stock value, Dangote Sugar was the top gainer. On the other hand, Chi Plc headed the group of securities that were losing value, with a 9.57% drop in stock price.
