The Nigerian stock market extended its positive momentum on August 26, as the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced for a third straight session. The benchmark index gained 321.59 points, or 0.23%, closing at 141,761.36 compared to 141,439.77 the previous day, pushing year-to-date returns to 37.7%.
Market capitalization climbed to N89.69 trillion, edging closer to the N90 trillion threshold. Trading activity strengthened with 605 million shares exchanged across 28,845 deals, higher than the 591.2 million recorded the prior session.
NCR and SFSREIT topped the gainers’ chart with impressive gains of 10% and 9.99% respectively, closing at N11.55 and N301.55. On the other hand, LEGENDINT and NSLTECH led the losers, plunging 10% to N5.40 and 9.26% to N0.98, respectively.
The session also saw notable advances from BERGER (+9.06%), BETAGLAS (+8.16%), and CADBURY (+8.04%). Among laggards, CUTIX shed 8.97% to N3.55, while UACN and DEAPCAP fell 8.69% and 8.29% respectively.
FCMB dominated the trading volume chart with 89.2 million shares, followed by VERITASKAP with 68.4 million and AIICO with 36.1 million. NSLTECH and MBENEFIT rounded out the top five with 27.2 million and 23.5 million shares respectively.
In value, LAFARGE led with N1.6 billion worth of transactions, trailed by MTN with N1.4 billion and GTCO at N1.1 billion. FCMB posted N980.7 million in value, while ZENITHBANK completed the top five with N608.9 million.
Among the Stocks Worth Over One Trillion Naira (SWOOTs), INTERNATIONAL BREWERIES gained 3% and FIDELITY BANK rose 1.92%, while LAFARGE slipped 0.41%. Within the FUGAZ category, GTCO climbed 2.03%, UBA gained 0.94%, ZENITHBANK advanced 0.86%, and ACCESSCORP edged up 0.18%, with FIRSTHOLDCO unchanged
