Sentiments in the nation’s bourse remained positive on Thursday following price appreciation in Dangote Cement and 17 other stocks.
Consequently, the All-Share Index rose by 183.48 points or 0.77 per cent to close at 23,892.92 compared to 23,709.44 achieved on Wednesday.
Accordingly, Month-to-Date gain increased to 3.8 per cent, as Year-to-Date losses moderated to -11.0 per cent.
Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at N12.356 trillion, inched higher by N85 billion to close at N12.441 trillion.
The uptrend was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are: Nestle Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank and Fidson Healthcare.
The market breadth closed positively with 18 gainers compared with 14 losers.
Fidson Healthcare recorded the highest price in percentage terms with a growth of 9.62 per cent to close at N2.62 per share.
NPF Microfinance Bank followed with 9.46 per cent to close at N1.62, while May & Baker rose by 5.78 per cent to close at N3.11 per share.
FCMB Group grew by 5.26 per cent to close at N1.80, while Regency Alliance appreciated by five per cent to close at 21k per share.
Conversely, Custodian Investment led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, dropping by 9.52 per cent to close at N5.70 per share.
Unity Bank followed with 8.33 per cent to close at 44k, while AIICO Insurance declined by 7.53 per cent to close at 86k per share.
NEM Insurance lost 7.41 per cent to close at N2, while Linkage Assurance shed 6.82 per cent each to close at 41k per share.
Meanwhile, the total volume of shares sold increased by 14.76 per cent with an exchange of 182.74 million shares, valued at N2.33 billion in 4,542 deals.
This was in contrast with 159.24 million worth N1.54 billion traded in 3,573 deals on Wednesday.
Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 27.28 million shares valued at N413.34 million.
Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 24.62 million shares worth N540.71 million, while FBN Holdings accounted for 18.84 million shares valued at N92.82 million.
Custodian Investment traded 15.22 million shares worth N95.39 million, while Fidson Healthcare transacted 11.41 million shares worth N27.24 million.
