The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) opened the week on a bullish note as renewed investor appetite for insurance and banking stocks lifted the equities market by ₦80 billion, reversing Friday’s losses.
Market capitalisation climbed 0.09 per cent to ₦92.294 trillion from ₦92.214 trillion in the previous session, while the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 125.86 points to close at 145,880.77, up from 145,754.91 on Friday.
The uptrend was driven by strong demand for AIICO Insurance, Sunu Assurances, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) and Veritas Kapital Assurance—each hitting the maximum daily gain of 10 per cent. AIICO closed at ₦3.85, Sunu at ₦5.50, Stanbic IBTC at ₦110.10, UPDC REIT at ₦8.69, and Veritas Kapital at ₦2.31.
On the losers’ side, Abbey Mortgage Bank and ABC Transport fell 10 per cent to ₦5.67 and ₦4.50 respectively. UAC of Nigeria dropped 9.99 per cent to ₦75.25, Halldane McCall shed 9.92 per cent to ₦4.36, and VFD Group declined 9.70 per cent to ₦12.10.
Trading volume eased slightly to 2.12 billion shares worth ₦19.39 billion in 40,435 deals, compared to 2.21 billion shares worth ₦32.4 billion in 35,036 deals on Friday.
Linkage Assurance led activity with 703.6 million shares valued at ₦1.59 billion. Universal Insurance followed with 230.54 million shares worth ₦278.90 million, while AIICO Insurance traded 154.73 million shares valued at ₦595.34 million. Sterling Nigeria recorded 120.19 million shares worth ₦987.86 million, and Veritas Kapital moved 74.56 million shares worth ₦164.6 million.
Market breadth closed positive with 41 gainers against 36 losers, signalling mild bullish sentiment at the start of the trading week.
