Ahead of the Sallah break, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) sustained a rising profile for the fourth consecutive session yesterday, as investors’ wealth increased by N1.2 trillion, amid price appreciation in 41 stocks.

Indeed, yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) gained by 1,835.02 points, representing a growth of 1.63 per cent to close at 114,616.75 points. Accordingly, market capitalisation rose by N1.157 trillion to close at N72.275 trillion.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), Aradel Holdings, Oando, Vitaform Nigeria and Nigerian Exchange Group.

On market outlook, Afrinvest Limited, said: “We expect the local bourse to resume from the two-day holidays on a slight bearish note driven by profit taking activities.”

Analysts at Codros Securities stated that in the absence of strong macroeconomic triggers or significant policy shifts, the overall direction of the market will likely be influenced by developments at the company and sector levels.

According to them, investor sentiment and trading activity are expected to remain closely tied to corporate earnings announcements, strategic business moves, and sector-specific news.

As such, they anticipated that performance across the equities market will vary, with pockets of resilience or volatility driven by firm-level fundamentals rather than broad-based momentum.

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth closed positive as 41 stocks gained relative to 22 losers. Champion Breweries and NGX Group recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N7.70 kobo and N39.60 kobo respectively, while MTNN followed with a gain of 9.99 per cent to close at N319.20 kobo.

Oando went up by 9.96 per cent to close at N56.85 kobo, while Morison Industries appreciated by 9.90 per cent to close at N3.22 kobo. On the other hand, NNFM led the losers’ chart by 9.97 per cent, to close at N125.05 kobo. ABC Transport followed with a decline of 9.77 per cent to close at N2.40 kobo, while Legend Internet declined by 9.49 per cent to close at N5.34 kobo. Livestock Feeds depreciated by 7.82 per cent to close at N8.25 kobo and Omatek Ventures declined by 7.59 per cent to close at 73 kobo.

The total volume traded advanced by 139.1 per cent to 1.462 billion units, valued at N33.474 billion, and exchanged in 16,410 deals. Transactions in the shares of Fidelity Bank topped the activity chart with 829.726 million shares valued at N15.971 billion. Legend Internet led with 180.300 million shares worth N1.018 billion, while Zenith Bank traded 62.817 million shares valued at N3.127 billion.

Japaul Gold & Venture traded 34.839 million shares valued at N69.605 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) sold 30.906 million shares worth N2.164 billion.