The Nigerian equities market closed higher today, as the All-Share Index advanced by 34bps to settle at 106,116.18 points, recovering from an earlier muted performance intraday.
The uptrend was supported by renewed interest across key sectors, with notable gains in GTCO (+6.35%), Transcorp (+6.28%), WAPCO (+2.10%), International Breweries (+10.00%), Oando (+3.70%), Nigerian Breweries (+3.85%), Wema Bank (+5.26%), UBA (+0.59%), NAHCO (+4.88%), Unilever (+2.50%), Dangote Sugar (+1.17%), Eterna (+9.90%), Cadbury (+9.96%), and Custodian (+4.65%). Overall, market breadth closed firmly positive, reflecting broad-based buying interest.
On the downside, Aradel Holdings emerged as the biggest laggard, shedding -9.86%. Other key decliners included FirstHoldCo (-1.60%), AccessCorp (-0.42%), and Zenith Bank (-0.22%).
Market turnover closed at ₦12.1 billion ($7.5 million), with trading activity largely driven by volumes in GTCO, AccessCorp, UBA, Nigerian Breweries, and Fidelity Bank. Year-to-date, the ASI has returned +3.18%. We anticipate a cautiously positive bias to persist, fueled by sustained interest in large-cap banking and consumer names, although intermittent profit-taking could introduce some volatility.