The oil and gas sector emerged as the top gainer on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), advancing by 17.59 per cent on the back of strong price appreciation in Aradel, Japaul Gold and Seplat last week.

The banking index followed with an 11.85 per cent gain, driven by sustained buying interest in ETI, Stanbic IBTC and FirstHoldco, reflecting continued investors’ appetite for fundamentally strong and liquid counters.

Consumer goods also recorded a solid increase of 7.76 per cent, underpinned by sustained participation in Uniondicon and Guinness.

In addition, the industrial goods sector posted a modest gain of 1.26 per cent supported by price appreciation in Wapco and Dangote Cement.

However, the insurance sector depreciated by 0.04 per cent largely due to sell-offs in Wapic and International Energy Insurance.

Consequently, the all-share index (ASI) advanced by 6.56 per cent week-on-week to settle at 217,131.54 points, while market capitalisation increased by 6.6 per cent to N139.83 trillion.

This translates to a gain of approximately N8.67 trillion, a significant improvement from the N1.36 trillion recorded in the prior week.

As a result, the year-to-date return strengthened to 39.53 per cent, reflecting sustained positive market momentum.

Market breadth also closed positive at 1.7x, with 61 gainers compared to 36 decliners, indicating broad-based buying interest across the market.

Trading activity remained robust during the week, with the number of deals, volume traded, and total value traded rising by 10.82 per cent, 6.77 per cent and 28.67 per cent week-on-week, respectively.

In all, investors exchanged 3.59 billion shares valued at N195.69 billion across 255,283 deals, indicating increased market participation.

On the market outlook, Chief Research Officer of Investdata Consulting Limited, Ambrose Omordion, said the Nigerian equities market is likely to sustain its bullish momentum in the near term, driven by continued liquidity inflows, improving investor sentiment and supportive oil price trends.

He, however, noted that gains could begin to moderate as investors engage in profit-taking and as mixed macroeconomic signals weigh on the pace of the rally.

Omordion advised investors to adopt a selective approach, focusing on fundamentally sound stocks with strong earnings visibility and attractive dividend yields, while avoiding the temptation to chase momentum-driven rallies.

According to him, short-term corrections may offer more compelling entry opportunities.

He added that global factors, particularly developments in the oil market and geopolitical environment, will remain key drivers of sentiment, while domestic economic indicators and policy direction will also play a critical role in shaping market performance in the sessions ahead.