Market News

The gross external reserve halted the three-day decline to increase by $7.90 million to $45.22 billion, pushing the Year-to Date (YTD) gain back to +10.61%.

Global oil prices rose on Monday after the U.S. Coast Guard tried to intercept an oil tanker in international waters near Venezuela a day earlier, and Ukraine damaged two vessels and piers in Russia, raising the risk of oil supply disruptions.

Brent crude rose 3.31%, to $62.04 per barrel, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) rose by 167 cents, or 2.44%, to $57.90. Similarly, gold jumped more than 2% to a record high, powered by safe-haven flows as U.S.-Venezuela tensions flared. Meanwhile, the Nigerian Exchange sustained its upward trajectory on Tuesday, with the All-Share Index climbing 0.59% to 153,354.13 points, as market capitalization grew by N578.9 billion to N97.77 trillion, driven by investors realigning their portfolios in anticipation of the New Year. 

7.62 million units of CHAMS shares were listed on the NGX today, causing a 0.01% discrepancy in the ASI and market cap percentage increase. 

Market breadth was positive at 1.1x, with 29 gainers surpassing 27 losers. ALEX, AUSTINLAZ, CUSTODIAN, FIRSTHOLDCO, and FTNCOCOA led the advancers, while ROYALEX, CHAMPION, NASCON, SOVRENINS, and JAPAULGOLD suffered the steepest declines. 

Sectoral performance was mixed: Consumer Goods topped gains with a 1.30% rally, followed by Banking rising 1.23% and Industrial increasing 0.21%. Insurance and Oil & Gas fell 0.13% and 0.02% respectively, while the Commodity sector remained unchanged. 

Trading activity displayed divergent trends as share volume surged 50.03% to 677.43 million units and transaction value rose 59.50% to N20.78 billion, whereas deal count declined 17.22% to 27,589 transactions.