The bulls maintained dominance on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited for another trading session despite an attempt by the bears to disrupt the growth in the portfolios of investors.
Data from the bourse showed that the energy space was under selling pressure on Monday, causing its index to close lower by 0.03 per cent.
However, renewed interest in shares in the other sectors firmed up Customs Street by 0.50 per cent on the first trading day of the new week.
The insurance space expanded by 2.11 per cent, the commodity industry improved by 1.51 per cent, the industrial goods sector rose by 0.66 per cent, the consumer goods landscape jumped by 0.23 per cent, and the banking counter grew by 0.16 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) soared by 729.18 points to 147,717.22 points from 146,988.04 points and the market capitalisation moved up by N465 billion to N93.761 trillion from N93.296 trillion.
The market breadth index was at equilibrium yesterday after the NGX finished with 25 price gainers and 25 price losers led Tripple Gee, which lost 9.92 per cent to sell for N5.45.
Wema Bank depreciated by 4.51 per cent to N19.05, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank fell by 3.85 per cent to N5.00, NGX Group slipped by 3.33 per cent to N58.00, and Cutix Shrank by 3.08 per cent to N3.78.
Conversely, Sovereign Trust Insurance gained 9.97 per cent to trade at N3.53, Regency Alliance improved by 9.68 per cent to N1.36, Transcorp Power expanded by 8.92 per cent to N342.00, Consolidated Hallmark surged by 7.14 per cent to N4.50, and Haldane McCall appreciated by 6.80 per cent to N4.40.
A total of 624.6 million equities valued at N13.5 billion exchanged hands in 31,563 deals on Monday compared with the 386.6 million equities worth N11.3 billion traded in 21,842 deals last Friday, indicating an increase in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 61.56 per cent, 19.47 per cent, and 44.51 per cent, respectively.
Consolidated Hallmark traded 210.5 million units worth N909.7 million, Fidelity Bank sold 47.5 million units valued at N951.8 million, Chams exchanged 44.0 million units for N191.6 million, Universal Insurance transacted 29.9 million units valued at N32.3 million, and Sovereign Trust Insurance traded 23.3 million units worth N80.3 million.