On Thursday, the domestic bourse rebounded with a profit of N178 billion, boosted by gains from Tier-one banks and certain large and medium-capitalised stocks.
Investors’ increased interest in Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), FBN Holdings, Access Corporation, Nestle, Transnational Corporation, and Oando Plc, among other advanced shares, drove the market higher.
The market capitalisation increased by N178 billion, or 0.32 percent, to N55.754 trillion at the end. The All-Share Index also gained by 0.32 percent, or 310 points, to 97,025.17 points, up from 96,715.04 on Wednesday.
Consequently, the year-to-Date (YTD) return rose by 29.76 percent. Market breadth also closed positive with 27 gainers and 22 losers on the floor of the exchange. On the gainers’ chart, FBN Holdings and Caverton led by 10 percent each to close at N26.40 and N2.31 per share, respectively.
Flour Mill trailed closely by 9.99 percent to close at N49.55, RT Briscoe gained 9.93 percent to close at N3.32, while Nestle advanced by 9.88 percent to close at N890 per share.
On the losers’ chart, Daar Communications led by 8.86 percent to close at 72k, and Eterna Plc followed by 8.14 percent to close at N32.15 per share.
Universal Insurance lost 7.69 percent to close at 36k, Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 5.97 percent to close at 63k, and International Breweries shed 5.32 percent to close at N4.45 per share.
Analysis of the market activities showed that trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 9.44 percent.
A total of 390.55 million shares valued at B7.97 billion were exchanged in 9,615 deals, compared to 600.04 million shares valued at N8.81 billion in 9,546 deals traded in the previous session.
Meanwhile, Access Corporation led the activity chart in volume and value with 80.05 million shares traded in deals worth N1.48 billion.