The last trading session of the week on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a positive note on Friday with a 0.24 per cent rise.
During the trading day, the market capitalisation of Customs Street was up by N175 billion to N74.534 trillion from the N74.359 trillion recorded on Thursday.
In the same vein, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the local bourse increased by 277.09 points to 118,138.22 points from 117,861.13 points due to sustained bargain-hunting by investors in the banking and commodity sectors.
Data showed that the banking index went up by 1.65 per cent and the commodity sector appreciated by 0.75 per cent.
However, the insurance industry weakened by 1.07 per cent, the industrial goods space lost 0.76 per cent, and the consumer goods and energy counters fell by 0.16 per cent each.
Legend Internet grew by 10.00 per cent to sell for N7.92, Ellah Lakes appreciated by 9.90 per cent to N5.33, Champion Breweries expanded by 9.63 per cent to N8.20, Guinea Insurance rose by 8.70 per cent to 75 Kobo, and eTranzact gained 7.52 per cent to settle at N7.15.
On the flip side, Sunu Assurances declined by 8.62 per cent to N4.56, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills lost 8.00 per cent to trade at N93.20, Thomas Wyatt moderated by 7.83 per cent to N2.00, Livestock Feeds retreated by 6.90 per cent to N8.10, and NEM Insurance contracted by 5.03 per cent to N17.00.
A total of 487.1 million units of shares worth N18.7 billion exchanged hands in 17,421 deals yesterday compared with the 894.0 million units of shares valued at N22.0 billion transacted in 17,257 deals in the previous day, indicating an improvement in the number of deals by 0.95 per cent, and a contraction in the trading volume and value by 45.52 per cent and 15.00 per cent, respectively.
The busiest stock for the session was Fidelity Bank, which traded 38.3 million units valued at N741.5 million, CWG exchanged 25.0 million units for N230.8 million, Zenith Bank transacted 24.9 million units worth N1.2 billion, Coronation Insurance sold 24.4 million units valued at N48.7 million, and Access Holdings traded 23.6 million units worth N517.9 million.