Lagos: The equities market stayed bullish on Thursday, gaining N283 billion.
Investor interest in key stocks such as Seplat Energy, RT Briscoe, Deep Capital Management, Zichis Agro Allied Industries, Daar Communications, and 41 others contributed to the market’s positive performance.
The market capitalisation increased by N283 billion, or 0.25 per cent, rising from N114.377 trillion at the opening to N114.660 trillion at the close.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 0.25 per cent, gaining 441.27 points to close at 178,625.63, compared to 178,184.36 reported on Wednesday.
The performance brought the Year-To-Date (YTD) return further up to 14.79%.
The market breadth remained positive, recording 46 gainers and 35 losers for the day.
Seplat Energy, RT Briscoe and Deep Capital Management led the gainers’ chart by 10 per cent, settling at N8,107, N15.84 and N8.69 per share, respectively.
Zichis Agro Allied Industries increased by 9.97 per cent, finishing at N9.82, while Daar Communications grew by 9.96 per cent, closing at N2.76 per share.
On the flip side, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company led the losers’ chart by 9.98 per cent, ending the session at N148.45, Abbey Mortgage Bank trailed by 9.68 per cent, finishing at N11.20, and Eterna dropped by 9.50 per cent, closing at N30 per share.
May and Baker fell by 9.19 per cent, finishing at N40.50, while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated shed by 8.72 per cent, closing at N45 per share.
Analysis of market activity revealed an overall decline, with 698.3 million shares valued at N28.4 billion traded across 50,886 deals.
This is compared with 939.2 million shares worth N34.03 billion that were exchanged in 61,279 transactions.
Access Corporation led in volume with 52.05 million shares, 7.45 per cent of the day’s total.
Guaranty Trust Holding recorded the highest value traded at N4.34 billion, accounting for 15.25 per cent of the day’s total.
