A 0.53 per cent growth was posted by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday as the bulls tightened their grip on the domestic bourse.
Renewed interest in Nigerian stocks kept the spirits alive yesterday, with almost all the key sectors of the market closing green.
Data from Customs Street showed that the commodity index was flat at the close of transactions, while the insurance counter posted the highest rise, 2.76 per cent.
The banking space appreciated by 1.29 per cent, the consumer goods sector improved by 0.74 per cent, the energy index grew by 0.69 per cent, and the industrial goods counter gained 0.34 per cent.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 637.30 points to 120,977.20 points from 120,339.90 points and the market capitalisation went up by N403 billion to N76.583 trillion from N76.180 trillion.
Yesterday, Guinea Insurance gained 10.00 per cent to finish at 99 Kobo, Deap Capital rose by 10.00 per cent to N1.10, Berger Paints jumped by 10.00 per cent to N33.00, Academy Press advanced by 10.00 per cent to N5.61, and Unilever Nigeria grew by 9.96 per cent to N56.85.
On the flip side, Neimeth declined by 8.49 per cent to N7.22, Legend Internet slumped by 7.98 per cent to N7.73, CWG shrank by 4.50 per cent to N13.80, Sovereign Trust Insurance depleted by 4.35 per cent to N1.32, and VFD Group slipped by 3.57 per cent to N13.50.
A total of 54 equities ended on the gainers’ table and 15 equities finished on the losers’ chart, representing a positive market breadth index and firm investor sentiment.
During the session, investors transacted 933.4 million shares valued at N29.3 billion in 24,207 deals compared with the 1.1 billion shares worth N12.2 billion executed in 21,964 deals on Wednesday.
This showed that the trading volume declined by 11.05 per cent, trading value increased by 140.16 per cent and the number of deals grew by 10.21 per cent.
Universal Insurance was the most active stock with 67.3 million units sold for N40.7 million, Access Holdings traded 62.6 million units valued at N1.5 billion, Chams transacted 59.7 million units worth N147.1 million, Japaul exchanged 49.5 million units valued at N147.9 million, and GTCO sold 40.6 million units valued at N3.4 billion.