The Nigerian equities market on Thursday rebounded from a one-day slump, adding about N220 billion to investors’ portfolios as buying interest returned to several stocks across key sectors.
Market data showed that the market capitalisation rose by 0.18 per cent, increasing from N126.097 trillion to N126.317 trillion, while the benchmark NGX All-Share Index gained 0.18 per cent to close at 196,807.15 points, up from 196,463.22 recorded on Wednesday.
The rally pushed the Year-to-Date return to 26.47 per cent.
The positive performance was largely driven by price appreciation in stocks such as Eterna Plc, NPF Microfinance Bank, Premier Paints Plc, Custodian Investment Plc and Fortis Global Insurance Plc, among 28 other advancing equities.
Despite the bullish outing, market breadth closed negative with 39 losers against 33 gainers.
Tripple Gee & Company Plc topped the losers’ chart after shedding 9.94 per cent to close at N4.26 per share. It was followed by Multiverse Mining and Exploration Plc which declined by 9.91 per cent to N20.45, while Jaiz Bank Plc dropped by 7.41 per cent to close at N10 per share.
Similarly, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc fell by 7.11 per cent to close at N20.90, while Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc declined by 7.10 per cent to end the session at N69.40 per share.
On the gainers’ table, Eterna and NPF Microfinance Bank led with 10 per cent appreciation each, closing at N38.50 and N7.15 per share respectively.
Premier Paint added 9.92 per cent to close at N13.30, Custodian Investment gained 9.71 per cent to settle at N76.80, while Fortis Global Insurance rose by 9.68 per cent to close at N1.36 per share.
Trading activity, however, declined during the session as total volume traded fell by 21.27 per cent to 634.01 million shares valued at N29.11 billion across 66,286 deals.
Jaiz Bank Plc recorded the highest trading volume with 137.30 million shares exchanged, representing 21.66 per cent of the total volume traded for the day.
In terms of value, Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (GTCO) led the market with transactions worth N5.41 billion, accounting for 18.59 per cent of the total value traded.
