The Nigerian stock market gains 1.94% on Wednesday to reach 70,581.76 points.

The All-Share Index of the Nigerian stock market rose by 1.94% and crossed the 70,000 mark to close at 70,581.76 points the highest point in the history of the stock market. As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return increased to 37.72%, with the market capitalization rising by ₦739.26 billion to close at ₦38.78 trillion.

The market’s strong performance was driven by sustained gains in index heavyweight AIRTELAFRI (+10.00%), as well as Tier-1 banks ZENITHBANK (+3.77%) and GTCO (+1.72%). On the leader’s log, AIRTELAFRI (+10.00%) was ahead of twenty-eight (28) others, and on the laggard’s table, CHAMPION (-6.85%) was ahead of ten (10) others.

Trade turnover settled at a higher value when compared to Tuesday’s results with a rise of 82.25% in transaction value. 7,444 deals totaling 601.73m shares worth ₦11.02bn were transacted. Leading the volume and value charts with 163.56 million units traded in deals valued ₦3.47 billion was UBA (+0.48%).