It was another trading session for the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in the green territory as it further improved by 0.13 per cent at the close of business.
The bourse managed to stay up despite profit-taking in the financial services and the energy sectors yesterday.
According to data, the insurance counter depreciated by 3.07 per cent, the banking industry went down by 0.40 per cent, and the energy space shrank by 0.11 per cent.
However, the commodity index increased by 0.65 per cent, the consumer goods landscape went up by 0.55 per cent, and the industrial goods sector closed higher by 0.11 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) soared by 214.80 points to 160,806.56 points from 160,591.76 points and the market capitalisation advanced by N137 billion to N102.822 trillion from N102.685 trillion.
Investor sentiment was weak on Thursday as Customs Street ended with 32 price gainers and 41 price losers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
Neimeth chalked up 10.00 per cent to trade at N7.70, May and Baker increased by 9.85 per cent to N26.20, eTranzact gained 9.64 per cent to finish at N13.65, Multiverse jumped by 9.51 per cent to N21.30, and Mecure Industries grew by 9.42 per cent to N74.95.
On the flip side, International Energy Insurance decreased by 9.90 per cent to N2.73, ABC Transport tumbled by 9.88 per cent to N4.47, Austin Laz crashed by 9.84 per cent to N4.58, Conoil stumbled by 9.72 per cent to N169.00, and Veritas Kapital dropped 9.69 per cent to N1.77.
The busiest stock was Chams with 60.5 million units worth N236.8 million, Linkage Assurance traded 54.1 million units valued at N97.6 million, Tantalizers transacted 45.0 million units for N129.7 million, Access Holdings sold 35.5 million units worth N815.4 million, and Champion Breweries exchanged 31.2 million units valued at N519.1 million.
When the closing gong was struck, market participants traded 645.1 million units for N16.5 billion in 44,410 deals compared with the 1.4 billion units valued at N20.7 billion transacted in 49,286 deals a day earlier, showing a fall in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 53.92 per cent, 20.29 per cent, and 9.89 per cent apiece.