The domestic stock market appreciated by 1.63 per cent at Thursday’s trading session ahead of the Eid-El Kabir (Sallah) break on Friday and Monday.
Investors were in high spirits yesterday, with bargain-hunting dominating the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited because of the renewed confidence in the market.
Consequently, the market capitalisation closed higher by N1.158 trillion to N72.276 trillion from the preceding day’s N71.118 trillion and the All-Share Index (ASI) increasing by 1,835.02 points to 114,616.75 points from 112,781.73 points.
Business Post reports that the commodity index gained 2.96 per cent, the energy space improved by 2.73 per cent, the industrial goods sector surged by 2.37 per cent, the banking counter rose by 2.21 per cent, the insurance industry soared by 1.31 per cent, and the consumer goods index went up by 1.02 per cent.
It was a busy session on Customs Street on Thursday due to strong appetite for local equities, with the trading volume, value and number of deals spiking by 144.40 per cent, 104.27 per cent, and 21.72 per cent apiece.
A total of 1.5 billion stocks valued at N33.5 billion exchanged hands in 16,410 deals during the session versus the 598.2 million stocks worth N16.4 billion traded in 13,482 deals at midweek.
Fidelity Bank was traders’ toast yesterday, leading the activity chart with the sale of 829.7 million equities for N16.0 billion, followed by Legend Internet, which exchanged 180.3 million units for N1.0 billion.
Further, Zenith Bank transacted 62.8 million shares valued at N3.1 billion, Japaul traded 34.8 million equities worth N69.6 million, and GTCO sold 30.9 million units valued at N2.2 billion.
Investor sentiment remained bullish during the trading day after the bourse ended with 40 appreciating equities and 22 depreciating equities, representing a positive market breadth index.
Champion Breweries and NGX Group gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N7.70, and N39.60 apiece, MTN Nigeria appreciated by 9.99 per cent to N319.20, Oando soared by 9.96 per cent to N56.85, and Morison Industries chalked up 9.90 per cent to trade at N3.22.
On the flip side, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills depreciated by 9.97 per cent to N125.05, ABC Transport crashed by 9.77 per cent to N2.40, Legend Internet weakened by 9.49 per cent to N5.34, Livestock Feeds soured by 7.82 per cent to N8.25, and Omatek deflated by 7.59 per cent to 73 Kobo.