Equities gain N861bn as market extends rally
Lagos, April 2026 (TBL Africa) The Nigerian equities market sustained a positive trend on Wednesday, recording a gain of N861bn, reflecting continued investor confidence.
Market capitalisation rose from N140.523tn to N141.384tn, representing a 0.61 per cent increase.
Similarly, the All-Share Index advanced by 1,336.39 points, or 0.61 per cent, to close at 219,586.20 from 218,249.81.
Analysts attributed the uptrend to renewed buying interest in key stocks, stating, “Investors showed increased appetite for fundamentally strong equities.”
Gainers included Transcorp Hotels, Vitafoam, UAC of Nigeria, Chemical and Allied Products, and Trans-Nationwide Express, alongside 26 other advancing equities.
The year-to-date return climbed to 41.11 per cent, while market breadth remained positive with 31 gainers and 28 losers.
On the gainers’ chart, Transcorp Hotels and others rose by 10 per cent each, closing at N223.30, N143, N121, N110 and N7.92 respectively.
Conversely, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals topped the losers’ chart, shedding 10 per cent to close at N9 per share.
Abbey Mortgage Bank declined by 9.85 per cent to N5.95, while Livingtrust Mortgage Bank fell by 8.94 per cent to N3.36 per share.
ABC Transport dropped by 8.65 per cent to N5.70, and Haldane McCall lost 6.23 per cent, closing at N3.61 per share.
Trading activity weakened, with total volume declining by 18.85 per cent to 683.68 million shares, valued at N36.17bn across 51,694 deals.
First HoldCo led activity charts, recording 76.64 million shares worth N5.78bn during the session.
This represented 11.21 per cent of total volume and 15.99 per cent of total value traded for the day.
