……FCMB, VFD boost market cap with N559b listings
By Bamidele Famoofo
The Nigerian equities market sustained its bullish momentum on Wednesday, with the NGX All-Share Index gaining 0.21 percent
to close at 201,703.55 points, lifting the YTD return to +29.62 percent .
Market capitalization rose more sharply by 0.46 percent, buoyed by the listing of 21.183 billion and 5.07 billion ordinary shares of FCMB and VFD Group on the NGX, which added N559.41 billion to bring the total to N129.81 trillion.
Market breadth was broadly negative at 0.5x, as 41 decliners led by OMATEK, NESTLE, FTNCOCOA, CHAMS, and MAYBAKER outpaced 22 advancers, with UPDCREIT, INTENEGINS, RTBRISCOE, MBENEFIT, and ZENITHBANK posting the most notable gains.
Sectoral performance was divergent, as Banking (+3.21%), Insurance (+0.23%), and Industrial (+0.01%) edged higher, while Consumer Goods (-1.56%) and Oil & Gas (-0.05%) weighed on the index and the Commodity sector ended flat.
Trading activity softened across the board, with volume, turnover, and deal count declining 8.13 percent, 6.38 percent, and 1.49 percent to 813.48 million shares, N33.29 billion, and 52,641 transactions respectively. In the next session, investors are likely to adopt a risk-on stance for further position-taking and subdued trading activity.
