The equities market reached a fresh all-time high yesterday, as Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index crossed the 250,000-point mark, extending a rally that has delivered more than 60 per cent in returns to investors this year.

The index advanced 0.14 per cent to close at 250,156.80 points, compared with 249,804.56 points in the previous session, taking its year-to-date return to 60.76 per cent. Similarly, market capitalisation also rose by about N228 billion to N162.39 trillion from N162.16 trillion, representing a 0.14 per cent increase.

Commenting on the development, Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Exchange Group, Temi Popoola said the market’s performance reflects the growing role of the capital market in supporting Nigeria’s economic development.

“This milestone speaks to the growing relevance of Nigeria’s capital market and the opportunity to position it more firmly at the centre of the country’s economic growth story. Our ambition at NGX Group goes beyond market performance.

“It is about building a capital market ecosystem that can mobilise capital at scale, support the growth ambitions of Nigerian businesses, broaden participation in wealth creation and strengthen Nigeria’s connection to global pools of capital.

“The progress we are seeing gives us a stronger platform to pursue that ambition. The next phase must be about translating market momentum into deeper capital formation, bringing more high-quality businesses to the public markets and ensuring that the capital market plays a much larger role in financing Nigeria’s long-term development,” Popoola said.

Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Exchange Limited, Jude Chiemeka said the increase in market activity was an important dimension of the market’s performance.

“Beyond the headline index level, we are paying close attention to the quality and breadth of market participation. The increase in the number of transactions and trading volumes indicates sustained engagement across the marketplace.

“Our focus at NGX is to ensure that the market infrastructure and trading environment remain robust as participation grows. This means maintaining efficient execution, transparent price discovery and strong market integrity, while continuing to provide investors with a marketplace they can rely on across differentNetflix raises subscription fees again in Nigeria, cites market conditions,” Chiemeka said.

Trading data for the session showed that the number of deals jumped 54.86 per cent to 68,507 from 44,239 in the previous session, while the volume of shares traded increased 9.15 percent to 574.14 million units from 525.99 million. Transaction value, however, declined 60.73 percent to N38.05 billion from N96.89 billion.

Market breadth remained positive at 1.5 times, with 39 stocks advancing against 26 decliners. SUNU Assurance, NASCON Allied Industries, Omatek Ventures and Thomas Wyatt led the gainers, rising 10 percent each, while Consolidated Hallmark Holdings advanced 9.80 percent.

Okomu Oil Palm led the laggards, declining 10 percent to N1,276.20. Custodian Investment fell 9.13 percent, Sovereign Trust Insurance declined 8.64 percent, Haldane McCall lost 8.33 percent, while Ellah Lakes dropped 5.39 percent.

Financial services stocks dominated trading activity, accounting for 418.77 million shares, or 72.94 percent of total volume. Zenith Bank was the most actively traded stock by volume, with 77.07 million shares, and also led trading by value with transactions worth N9.90 billion.

Year-to-date equities turnover rose to N7.20 trillion, while average daily turnover stood at N40.23 billion. Sectoral performance was largely positive. The NGX Banking Index gained 0.68 percent, the Industrial Index advanced 0.47 per cent and the Consumer Goods Index rose 0.32 percent. The oil&gas index declined 0.40 per cent.