Guinness, UPL top gainers list as stock market records gain of N962 billion

The Nigerian stock market ended the week on a high note on Friday, March 13, 2026, as investors recorded a bullish rally that added $962 billion to the market value.

The surge was fueled by continued investor interest in stocks such as Guinness, University Press, Royal Exchange, May & Baker, Fortis Global Insurance and about 30 other stocks.

The market capitalization rose from N126.398 trillion at the opening of trading to N127.360 trillion at the close, representing a gain of 0.76%, equivalent to N962 billion.

The All-Share index (ASI) also advanced by 0.76%, equal to 1,498.54 points, going from 196,908.76 in the previous session to 198,407.30 at the close of trading.

The year-to-date (YTD) return improved to 27.50%, reflecting sustained investor confidence in local equities, while market breather closed on a positive note with 35 gains and 20 losses.

Guinness, University Press and Royal Exchange led the pack in gains by 10% each, closing the session at N385, N5.50 and N1.87 per share respectively.

May and Baker gained 9.93% to close at N41.50, while Fortis Global Insurance rose 9.26% to N1.18 per share.

On the other hand, RT Briscoe led the losers by 9.17% to close at N10.40, Learn Africa lagged by 8.33% to close at N8.25, and NGX Group fell by 6.12% to close the session at N176.50 per share.

Haldane McCall lost 5.78% to close at N3.91, while AXA Mansard Insurance fell 5.63% to close at N14.91 per share.

Market activity was on the rise during the day, with the total volume traded increasing by 7.51% to 591.04 million shares, valued at N35 billion in 53,066 transactions.

While Firstholdco recorded the highest volume with 70.83 million shares traded, accounting for 11.98% of the daily traded volume, MTN Nigeria recorded the highest with 6.68 billion shares traded, accounting for 19.09% of the total value for the day.

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