By Seun Ibiyemi
The Nigerian equities market returned to positive territory on Thursday as investors gained N73 billion following renewed buying interest in selected large- and mid-cap stocks.
Trading activity on the Nigerian Exchange Limited was driven by strong demand for stocks such as International Energy Insurance, ABC Transport, Unilever Nigeria and Academy Press, alongside 14 other equities.
Market capitalisation increased from N159.660 trillion to N159.733 trillion, reflecting a gain of N73 billion or 0.05 per cent.
Similarly, the All-Share Index rose by 113.02 points, or 0.05 per cent, advancing from 249,062.37 to 249,175.39.
As a result, the market’s Year-to-Date return improved to 60.13 per cent.
Despite the positive close, market breadth remained negative as 44 stocks recorded losses against 19 gainers.
Berger Paints Nigeria topped the losers’ chart with a 10 per cent decline to close at N147.60 per share. Learn Africa followed with a 9.96 per cent drop to N11.75, while Daar Communications lost 9.95 per cent to close at N1.90 per share.
Also, RT Briscoe shed 9.93 per cent to settle at N12.79, while May & Baker Nigeria declined by 9.61 per cent to close at N46.55 per share.
On the gainers’ table, International Energy Insurance appreciated by 10 per cent to close at N3.41 per share, while ABC Transport rose by 9.93 per cent to N9.08.
Unilever Nigeria gained 9.80 per cent to close at N168, while Academy Press advanced by 9.74 per cent to settle at N8.45 per share.
Eunisell Interlinked also recorded a 9.41 per cent increase, closing at N209.95 per share.
Trading activity improved significantly, with total volume traded rising by 76.39 per cent to 1.06 billion shares valued at N30.97 billion exchanged in 62,448 deals.
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Sterling Financial Holdings Company led the volume chart with 322.68 million shares traded, accounting for 30.48 per cent of the total market volume.
Meanwhile, Aradel Holdings dominated the value chart with transactions worth N5.06 billion, representing 16.35 per cent of the total value traded.
