The Nigerian Exchange resumed bullish trading on Monday, with a 0.05 per cent gain on investor interest in Eterna and 22 other companies.
Precisely, the benchmark index rose 21.88 points, or 0.05 per cent, to close at 40,243.05, up from 40,221.17 on Thursday.
As a result, month-to-date and year-to-date returns were 0.1 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively.
Similarly, the market capitalisation increased by N15 billion to close at N20.970 trillion, up from N20.955 trillion on Thursday.
Gains in medium and large-cap stocks, such as Eterna, United Capital, AXA Mansard Insurance, Pharm-Deko, and FBN Holdings, aided the recovery.
In terms of market performance this week, United Capital Plc anticipated some profit-taking on the bourse in the aftermath of last week’s rally.
The market breadth finished positive, with 23 gainers outnumbering 14 losers.
AXA Mansard Insurance led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, closing at N2.56 per share.
Pharm-Deko followed with a 9.79% gain to close at N2.58, while University Press gained 9.76% to close at N1.35 per share.
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance gained 8.77% to close at 62k, while Courteville Business Solutions gained 8.57% to close at 38k per share.
Morison Industries, on the other hand, led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, closing at N1.89 per share.
Northern Nigeria Flour Mills fell 9.94% to close at N7.70, while Veritas Kapital Assurance fell 8.70% to close at N21,000.
Cornerstone Insurance fell 8.62 per cent to close at 53, while Jaiz Bank fell 5% to close at 57, per share.
Transactions in Fidelity Bank shares topped the activity chart, with 18.59 million shares worth N46.77 million changing hands.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company was second, with 18.27 million shares worth N512.42 million, and FBNH was third, with 18.15 million shares worth N147.87 million.
Champion Breweries traded 14.19 million shares worth N29.09 million, while Universal Insurance traded 15.48 million shares worth N3.23 million.
The total volume of trades, however, fell by 80.7 percent to 202.36 million shares worth N1.86 billion traded in 4,066 transactions.
This was in contrast with 1.05 billion shares worth N7.42 billion exchanged in 3,752 deals recorded on Thursday.
