Bullish sentiments persisted on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Ltd on Thursday with BUA Cement, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) and Airtel Africa lifting the market capitalisation further by N237 billion.
Specifically, the market capitalisation surged by N237 billion to close at N21.764 trillion, up from N21.526 trillion on Wednesday.
The All-Share Index also gained 454.40 points, or 1.10 per cent, to close at 41,704.11 from 41,249.71 on Wednesday.
As a result, month-to-date and year-to-date market gains grew to 3.7% and 3.6%, respectively.
Market performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks, which includes Airtel Africa, BUA Cement, Nigerian Breweries, Nigerian Exchange Group, and MTNN.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said, “ In the final trading session of the week, we anticipate a pullback occasioned by profit-taking activities.”
The market breadth closed positive after 23 gainers outweighed 18 losers.
Cutix led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with a 10% gain to close at N5.50 per share.
Nigerian Exchange Group followed with a 9.79 per cent gain to close at N23.55, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance appreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at $60 per share.
Nigerian Breweries surged 7.41 percent to close at N51.45, while BUA Cement appreciated by 6.12 percent to close at N72 per share.
By contrast, The Initiates Plc (TIP), which closed at 43k per share, topped the losers’ chart in percentage terms.
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals followed with 4.86 per cent to close at N1.76, while Universal Insurance lost 4.76 per cent to finish at 20k per share.
The shares of Nigerian Aviation Handling Company fell 3.61 percent to close at N3.47 per share, while shares of Unity Bank and Royal Exchange each shed 3.51 percent to close at 55k.
The volume of trades fell by 56.7% to 216.19 million units worth N3.38 billion in 4,272 transactions.
In contrast, on Wednesday 5.998 equities worth N5.08 billion were exchanged in 499.51 million deals.
FBNH shares topped the activity chart with 51.92 million shares worth N628.33 million traded.
It was followed by Ecobank Transnational Incorporated with 20.02 million shares worth N143.69 million, and Transcorp with 14.65 million shares.
Access Bank traded 13.03 million shares worth N124.23 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 12.48 million shares worth N34.16 million.