On Thursday, equities trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited ended mixed albeit with a bullish tilt as the benchmark index closed 0.05 per cent higher to settle at 67,133.19 basis points.
Basically, gains in banking stocks namely Zenith Bank, Access Holdings and First Bank Holdings, kept the market in the green, having appreciated in share value by 1.27 per cent, 0.32 per cent and 0.62 per cent, respectively.
Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns printed +1.1 per cent and +31.0 per cent, respectively.
Equities investors therefore earned N18.43 billion as the market capitalization rose to N36.88 trillion.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive as 22 tickers gained relative to 9 losers. On the performance board, ThomasWay and Courtville recorded the most significant gains of the day having appreciated in share value by 9.8 per cent and 8.8 per cent, respectively, while Cornerstone Insurance and Mansard Insurance topped the losers’ list after their share prices notched 6.1 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively.
Sectoral performance was a mixed bag, with two of the five tracked indexes ending in the green, two remaining relatively flat, and one posting losses. The Banking and Consumer goods indexes led the gainers, advancing by 0.94 per cent and 0.07.per cent, respectively. In contrast, the Insurance sector faced a decline, plummeting by 1.80 per cent, while the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indexes held steady compared to the previous session.
Trading activity levels on Thursday were tepod, with a notable decrease in both the total number of deals and trading volume. Total deals saw a 0.87 per cent decline, totaling 5,588 trades, and trading volume dropped significantly by 24.62 per cent, reaching 309.32 million units.
However, the total value of trades for the day increased by 1.99 per cent to 4.55 billion naira, suggesting that even with reduced activity, substantial value-driven transactions occurred in the market.
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