The bulls managed to retain the control of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday despite an intense battle with the bears.
The local stock market further appreciated by 0.49 per cent, largely driven by strong appetite for shares in the commodity, industrial goods and energy sectors.
Business Post reports that the industrial goods space gained 3.09 per cent, the energy counter improved by 1.13 per cent, and the commodity index increased by 0.83 per cent.
However, the three other key sectors of the bourse suffered pullbacks due to profit-taking triggered by cautious trading in shares under the sectors.
Data showed that the insurance industry was down by 1.27 per cent, the banking space weakened by 1.06 per cent, and the consumer goods counter tumbled by 0.94 per cent.
When Customs Street shut its doors for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 753.65 points to 154,489.90 points from 153,736.25 points and the market capitalisation expanded by N478 billion to N98.059 trillion from N97.581 trillion.
The market breadth index was negative yesterday after the exchange finished with 34 price gainers and 37 price losers, implying a weak investor sentiment.
PZ Cussons and the Initiates chalked up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N42.90 and N14.30 apiece, Aso Savings gained 9.09 per cent to quote at 60 Kobo, CAP surged by 8.82 per cent to N74.00, and Lafarge Africa closed higher by 8.63 per cent to N150.45.
Conversely, John Holt lost 9.72 per cent to settle at N6.50, Multiverse declined by 9.71 per cent to N12.55, Stanbic IBTC shrank by 9.15 per cent to N107.20, Nigerian Breweries staggered by 7.83 per cent to N70.00, and UPDC REIT retreated by 7.55 per cent to N7.35.
During the session, market participants bought and sold 926.9 million stocks for N27.0 billion in 30,703 deals compared with the 589.5 million stocks worth N24.0 billion traded in 28,485 deals on Wednesday.
This indicated that the volume of transactions, the value of trades, and the number of deals went up by 57.24 per cent, 12.50 per cent, and 7.79 per cent, respectively.
The busiest equity on Thursday was Japaul with 436.1 million units sold for N1.1 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 77.3 million units valued at N1.5 billion, Lafarge Africa transacted 46.4 million units for N7.0 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 32.6 million units worth N804.8 million, and NASCON sold 17.9 million units valued at N2.0 billion.