A sustained rally in the consumer goods sector helped consumer goods manufacturer BUA Foods Plc reach a new 52-week high on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) and maintain its highest valuation rating, outperforming MTN Nigeria, Airtel Africa, and other members of the trillion-valuation gang on the local bourse.

Up until Friday, August 22nd, BUA Foods' price was comparatively constant, according to trading data. With modest trading activity, the share price of BUA Foods began the week at N588.

Due to bets from buy-side players, the stock rose on Friday and ended the day at N590. According to data from the Nigerian Exchange, the share price of BUA Foods Plc jumped to N590 on Friday, a significant increase from its 52-week low of N355.50.

Investors' optimism about future earnings streams and the expectation that the company will pay dividends drove an increase in transaction volume for the consumer goods stock.

The 18 billion shares of BUA Foods traded on the local exchange were worth N10.620 billion, the highest in the past 12 months.

ThisDay reported that NGX started the week on a bullish note, as the NGX All Share Index advanced by 0.31%, closing at 141,439.77 points. As a result, the year-to-date return increased to 37.42% from the 37.00% recorded in the prior week.

The market capitalization closed at N89.49 trillion, up by N284.46 billion. Losses in CADBURY, ABBEYBDS, and MANSARD were offset by gains in STANBIC, GTCO, and JBERGER, which boosted market sentiment and moved the market higher.

In comparison to the previous session, market activity settled lower, with transaction volume and value declining by 54.63% and 73.63%, respectively.

FCMB dominated the trading volume with 105.13 million units of stock exchanged, while GTCO led the value log with deals worth N2.40 billion.

Market breadth closed positively at 2.29x, reflecting more advancers than decliners. JBERGER led the thirty-eight (38) market gainers, while UPL topped the sixteen (16) laggards, with the remaining stocks closing flat.