The Nigerian Exchange witnessed a historic surge in investor wealth on Wednesday as market capitalisation crossed the N152tn milestone, bolstered by an aggressive wave of bargain hunting and first-quarter earnings optimism.

The market valuation climbed by N5.55tn to close at N152.73tn, representing a significant leap that reflects sustained confidence in the domestic bourse. This bullish momentum was further mirrored in the benchmark All-Share Index, which advanced 3.77 per cent to finish at 369,303.21 points, effectively pushing the year-to-date return to a staggering 51.85 per cent.

Despite some pockets of unimpressive earnings reports within the banking sector, the broader market sentiment remained resilient as investors prioritised stocks with healthy upside potential.

Trading activity strengthened significantly during the session, with the volume of shares traded rising by nearly 39 per cent to 1.33 billion shares exchanged across 83,445 deals. The day’s rally was largely driven by heavyweight industrial and energy stocks, with the Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas sectors recording gains of 6.14 per cent and 4.54 per cent, respectively.

Market breadth closed on a positive note as 48 gainers, led by prominent names such as Airtel Africa, CAP, and UACN, outpaced 42 decliners.

On the flip side, the market saw some sell-offs in certain mid-cap and manufacturing stocks, with Cadbury Nigeria featuring among the top laggards of the day following recent leadership changes and profit-taking activities.

Market analysts attribute this record-breaking performance to a combination of favourable corporate scorecards and the recent FTSE Russell reclassification of Nigeria as a Frontier Market, which has continued to stimulate foreign and institutional inflows.

As the exchange transitions into the next trading session, the current bullish trend underscores a growing appetite for Nigerian equities, even as investors keep a close watch on the prevailing high-interest-rate environment and macroeconomic indicators.