Lagos: The Nigerian equities market closed on a bullish note on Thursday, resulting in a substantial gain of N3.266 trillion for investors. The upward trend was primarily driven by an increased demand for stocks in the industrial, consumer, and energy sectors, including Seplat Energy, Unilever, CAP, FTN Cocoa Processors, UAC of Nigeria, among others.
According to News Agency of Nigeria, the market capitalisation, which began the day at N152.728 trillion, saw an increase of N3.266 trillion, or 2.14 percent, closing at N155.994 trillion. Similarly, the All-Share Index rose by 2.14 percent, gaining 5,072.22 points to settle at 242,277.81, compared to Wednesday’s figure of 237,205.59. This performance boosted the Year-To-Date (YTD) return to an impressive 55.69 percent.
Market breadth reflected a positive sentiment with 46 stocks advancing against 42 decliners. Leading the gainers’ chart, Seplat Energy, UAC of Nigeria, CAP, Unilever, and FTN Cocoa Processors each appreciated by 10 percent, closing at N11,495, N181.50, N145.20, N137.50, and N5.50 per share respectively.
On the flip side, Aluminium Extrusion Industry topped the losers’ chart with a decline of 9.95 percent, closing at N9.50. It was followed by Royal Exchange, which fell by 9.93 percent to N1.36, and Legend Internet, which decreased by 9.32 percent to N5.35 per share. Additionally, Austinlaz and Neimeth Pharmaceuticals saw declines of 9.12 percent and 7.26 percent, closing at N3.39 and N8.30 per share, respectively.
Overall market activity was positive, with the total volume of shares traded surging by 40.33 percent to 1.87 billion shares, valued at N104.29 billion across 92,353 deals. Access Corporation led the trading volume chart, with 934.96 million shares exchanged, accounting for 49.96 percent of the total trades. Seplat dominated the value chart with transactions worth N25.50 billion, representing 24.45 percent of the day’s turnover.