The Nigerian stock market posted solid gains on Wednesday, May 15, 2025, with the benchmark All-Share Index (ASI) advancing by 0.37%, driven by strong performances in the consumer goods sector. The index climbed 408.31 points to close at 109,467.64, up from the previous day’s 109,059.33.
Market capitalization also followed suit, expanding to ₦68.8 trillion, supported by bullish sentiment and heightened trading activity across key sectors.
Big Gainers and Laggards
Top performers of the day included Nestle Nigeria Plc and Honeywell Flour Mills, both surging by 10.00% to close at ₦1,331.00 and ₦16.50 respectively. Other notable gainers were Beta Glass (+9.98%), NPF Microfinance Bank (+9.81%), and Neimeth Pharmaceuticals (+9.77%).
Meanwhile, Multiverse Mining led the losers’ list with a drop of 9.64%, closing at ₦8.90, followed by WAPIC Insurance (-4.74%), LASACO Assurance (-4.53%), May & Baker (-3.82%), and AIICO Insurance (-3.61%).
Trading Volume and Value Surge
Investor activity was robust, with daily trading volume hitting 729.8 million shares, a notable jump from 531.2 million shares traded in the previous session.
FCMB Group emerged as the most active stock with 273 million shares exchanged, followed by Fidelity Bank with 43.4 million shares and Caverton Offshore Support Group, which saw 35 million shares change hands.
AIICO and FTN Cocoa also featured prominently, recording volumes of 33.8 million and 26.3 million shares, respectively.
In terms of trade value, MTN Nigeria led with transactions worth ₦3.4 billion, followed by FCMB (₦2.5 billion), Zenith Bank (₦1.1 billion), Fidelity Bank (₦896.7 million), and Nestle (₦722.1 million).
Performance of Key Market Segments
Among the elite category of Stocks Worth Over One Trillion Naira (SWOOTs), Transcorp Hotels posted a significant gain of 6.19%, while Lafarge Africa edged up modestly by 0.32%.
In the FUGAZ banking group, Access Holdings saw an uptick of 2.56%, while UBA and GTCO recorded marginal losses of 0.14% and 0.07% respectively. First Bank Holdings and Zenith Bank remained unchanged.
Market Outlook
With the All-Share Index reclaiming the 109,000 threshold, analysts anticipate continued momentum, particularly if investor interest remains strong in mid- and large-cap stocks. This rally could provide the needed lift to drive the market closer to the ₦69 trillion capitalization mark in coming sessions.
