Equities market closes higher, gains N185bn

The domestic equity market closed on a positive note on Thursday, appreciating by N185 billion as market sentiment remained strong

Market capitalisation of listed equities increased by 0.21 per cent to N88.998 trillion from N88.813 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also increased by 292.56 basis points to 140657.92 points from 140365.36 points reported on Wednesday.

The bullish movement was propelled by interest in some stocks especially banking stocks such as Nigerian Breweries, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa, AccessCorp among others.

The market breath was positive with 40 advancers against 12 losers, bringing year to date return to 36.66 per cent.

Volume of trades declined by 389.548 million, representing 50.74 per cent as investors traded 378.178 million shares against 767.726 million traded the previous day. Value of share traded dropped by 69.47 per cent to settle at N12.408 billion in 22935 deals.

An analysis of the trading for the day showed that Guinness Nigeria Plc, Living Trust, C &I Leasing led gainers table with 10 per cent each to close at N143.00, N4.62 and 6.60 per unit respectively. Etranzact followed with a gain of 9.68 per cent to close at N13.60 er unit, Regal Insurance added 9.42 per cent to close at N1.51 per share.

On the contrary, NEM insurance topped losers chart, dropping by 9.94 per cent to close at N28.10 per unit, Mansard trailed with a loss of 4.76 per cent to close at N15.99 per share, CWG fell by 4.71 per cent to close at N16.20 per share, EllahLakes down by 4.29 per cent to close at N13.40 per unit, Conhall Plc declined by 4.28 per cent to close N4.03 per share.

Transactions in the shares of Japaul Gold led market activities with 42.054 million shares valued at N111.857 million, Zenith Bank followed with account of 27.912 million shares worth N1.867 billion, United Bank for Africa exchanged 27.270 million shares valued at N1.292 billion, Access Holdings company traded 25.322 million shares cost N669.104 million while Nigerian Breweries traded 18.514 million shares valued at N1.295 billion.