The bulls tightened their grip on the local bourse by 1.08 per cent on Thursday as investors mopped up shares selling at attractive prices.
On Wednesday, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) rebounded after enduring a series of losses due to a special interest of the United States in the incessant attacks on Christians in the country by some alleged Islamic terrorists.
However, clarity in the implementation of the controversial capital gains tax (CGT) by the Minister of Finance, Mr Wale Edun, on Tuesday, triggered a fresh round of buying pressure.
Yesterday, apart from the industrial goods space, which lost 0.09 per cent and the commodity index, which closed flat, every other sector ended in green.
The insurance counter appreciated by 4.58 per cent, the banking industry improved by 3.80 per cent, the consumer goods space rose by 1.73 per cent, and the energy sector grew by 0.65 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 1,577.34 points to 146,981.17 points from 145,403.83 points and the market capitalisation soared by N1.003 trillion to N93.481 trillion from N92.478 trillion.
Linkage Assurance advanced by 10.00 per cent to N1.76, Custodian Investment also surged by 10.00 per cent to N38.50, Oando increased by 9.97 per cent to N43.55, Legend Internet expanded by 9.96 per cent to N5.74, and NAHCO jumped by 9.96 per cent to N106.55.
Conversely, Austin Laz lost 9.96 per cent to sell for N2.35, Union Dicon declined by 9.68 per cent to N7.00, Sterling Holdings shed 5.81 per cent to N7.30, NGX Group crashed by 5.31 per cent to N52.60, and Guinness Nigeria depleted by 5.14 per cent to N166.00.
Business Post reports that 55 equities ended on the advancers’ chart and 10 equities finished on the decliners’ table, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
However, the level of activity was lower than the preceding session as the trading volume, value, and number of deals went down by 25.63 per cent, 53.32 per cent and 3.40 per cent, respectively.
This was because traders transacted 599.7 million shares worth N22.7 billion in 23,675 deals during the trading day versus the 806.4 million shares valued at N50.8 billion traded in 24,509 deals at midweek.
Wema Bank was the busiest yesterday with 98.4 million units sold for N2.0 billion, UBA transacted 53.0 million units worth N2.2 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 50.9 million units valued at N1.2 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 41.2 million units for N784.0 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 40.8 million units valued at N2.6 billion.