Nigeria’s equities market recorded a mild recovery on Tuesday as renewed interest in banking and oil-related stocks helped lift the Nigerian Exchange.
The benchmark All-Share Index closed higher by 0.15 percent to reverse part of earlier losses recorded in the week, while market capitalisation rose by N101 billion from N65.488 trillion to N65.589 trillion on increased investor activity in selected blue-chip stocks.
The NGX All-Share Index advanced from 104216.87 points to 104376.73 points.
The banking sector led the recovery with the NGX Banking Index climbing 1.89 percent as gains in banking equities were supported by renewed investor positioning in fundamentally strong counters.
The oil and gas segment also contributed marginally with the sector index rising 0.04 percent.
Abbey Mortgage Bank led the gainers chart after rising 8.35 percent to close at N5.58. This was followed by Sterling Financial Holdings with a 6.85 percent increase to N5.15, while VFD Group gained 5.26 percent to settle at N66.00
However, broad market sentiment remains cautious. Other key indices closed negative, led by the NGX Insurance Index which dropped by 4.07 percent.
Despite the slight recovery most sectors continued to reflect profit-taking and weak sentiment.
Market activity saw 460.56 million shares traded in 14528 deals with a total value exchanged at N10.1 billion. While intraday performance improved, the broader trend for April remains negative with the NGX down 1.08 percent week-to-date and 1.22 percent month-to-date.
Research analysts at Vetiva had earlier projected sustained pressure on the equities market, given the prevailing sentiment and sectoral weakness.
They noted that while downside risk remains, bargain hunters could trigger a short-term rebound in select stocks.
The NGX is now up 1.41 percent year-to-date, showing resilience despite market volatility and global headwinds.
Investors are likely to monitor corporate disclosures and macroeconomic signals to determine short-term positioning for the rest of the week.
