The Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) sustained its bullish performance on Thursday, with the equity market appreciating by ₦257 billion.
Market capitalisation increased by ₦257 billion or 0.37 per cent, closing at ₦68.800 trillion, up from ₦68.543 trillion recorded on Wednesday.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 408.31 points or 0.37 per cent to close at 109,467.64, compared to the previous figure of 109,059.33.
The positive performance was driven by strong buying interest in medium and large-cap stocks such as Honeywell Flour Mill, Nestlé, Beta Glass, Nigerian Police Force Microfinance Bank, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals, among others.
Market breadth also closed on a positive note, with 37 gainers compared to 23 losers.
On the gainers’ table, Honeywell Flour Mill rose by 10 per cent to close at ₦16.50, while Nestlé similarly gained 10 per cent to settle at ₦1,331.00 per share.
Beta Glass appreciated by 9.98 per cent to end the day at ₦213.70, and Nigerian Police Force Microfinance Bank climbed 9.81 per cent to ₦2.35 per share.
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals followed with a 9.77 per cent gain, closing at ₦3.37 per share.
Conversely, on the losers’ chart, Multiverse Mining shed 9.64 per cent to close at ₦8.90, while WAPIC Insurance dropped 4.74 per cent to ₦2.01 per share.
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Lasaco Assurance declined by 4.53 per cent to ₦2.32; May & Baker Nigeria Plc fell by 3.82 per cent to close at ₦12.60, and AIICO Insurance dipped 3.61 per cent to ₦1.60 per share.
Overall, a total of 729.88 million shares valued at ₦13.88 billion were traded across 14,743 deals.
This represents an increase in volume but a decrease in value compared to the previous session’s 531.29 million shares worth ₦19.81 billion, traded in 14,870 deals.
First City Monument Bank (FCMB) led the activity chart with 273.04 million shares valued at ₦2.57 billion.
Fidelity Bank followed with 43.45 million shares worth ₦896.73 million, while Caverton Offshore Support Group traded 35.09 million shares valued at ₦144.67 million.
AIICO Insurance recorded 33.85 million shares worth ₦54.26 million, and FTN Cocoa Processors accounted for 26.36 million shares valued at ₦63.27 million.
