By Chukwuma Umeorah
The Nigerian equities market sustained its bullish momentum for the week ended May 9, 2025, as strong corporate earnings and dividend declarations spurred investor interest, resulting in a N1.7 trillion increase in market capitalization.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 2.54 per cent to close at 108,733.40 points, while the market capitalization settled at N68.339 trillion, up from N66.65 trillion in the previous week. The week’s performance reflected positive sentiment across most sectors, with 68 equities appreciating in price—up from 52 in the prior week.
Cowry Research noted that, “the market sentiment is expected to remain upbeat in the coming week, supported by the ongoing earnings and dividend season.”
Investor appetite was particularly strong in the Financial Services sector, which led the activity chart with 1.64 billion shares valued at N45.83 billion traded in 37,843 deals. It was followed by the Services and Consumer Goods sectors, which recorded 364.65 million shares worth N2.91 billion, and 190.22 million shares valued at N6.77 billion respectively.
Market activity surged across the board with 2.645 billion shares worth N77.01 billion exchanged in 86,110 deals, compared to 2.2 billion shares valued at N75.41 billion traded in 70,329 deals the previous week. Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, Access Holdings Plc, and Tantalizer Plc were the most traded equities by volume, accounting for 31.74 per cent and 36.02 per cent of total turnover volume and value respectively.
Performance across sectoral indices was largely positive. The NGX Consumer Goods Index topped the charts with a 5.41 per cent gain, followed by the NGX Lotus II and NGX Growth Index, which rose 4.78 per cent and 4.09 per cent respectively. The NGX Premium, Pension, and Banking indices also recorded strong weekly gains of 3.54 per cent , 3.68 per cent and 3.09 per cent respectively.
Top gainers for the week included Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc (+57.48 per cent), Academy Press Plc (+50.52 per cent), and Beta Glass Plc (+46.31 per cent), while the top laggards were Abbey Mortgage Bank Plc (-15.66 per cent), Meyer Plc (-13.51 per cent), and Veritas Kapital Assurance Plc (-10.81 per cent).
Meanwhile, trading in the shares of Golden Guinea Breweries Plc was suspended during the week for failure to file its unaudited financial statements for the period ended December 31, 2024, in line with NGX’s Default Filing Rules.