The bulls remained in control of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday, helping the market record a marginal growth of 0.02 per cent amid weak investor sentiment.
During the session, the market breadth index was negative after Customs Street finished with 30 appreciating stocks and 37 depreciating equities.
The gains were largely driven by the banking and consumer goods indices, which closed higher by 0.26 per cent and 0.18 per cent, respectively.
Profit-taking occurred in the other sectors, with the insurance counter down by 0.82 per cent, the industrial goods sector weakened by 0.21 per cent, and the energy index lost 0.16 per cent.
When the bourse closed for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 32.14 points to 200,957.89 points from 200,925.75 points, and the market capitalisation moved up by N21 billion to N128.998 trillion from N128.977 trillion.
Premier Paints rose by 10.00 per cent to N34.10, Zichis appreciated by 10.00 per cent to N12.54, Legend Internet improved by 9.92 per cent to N7.98, John Holt grew by 9.87 per cent to N17.25, and McNichols soared by 9.76 per cent to N6.75.
On the flip side, University Press fell by 9.17 per cent to N5.45, Sunu Assurances slumped by 8.88 per cent to N4.31, Veritas Kapital depreciated by 6.98 per cent to N2.00, FTN Cocoa tumbled by 6.67 per cent to N5.60, and NGX Group lost 6.46 per cent to trade at N168.75.
A total of 678.1 million shares valued at N33.1 billion exchanged hands in 42,222 deals yesterday versus the 538.0 million shares worth N25.4 billion traded in 45,641 deals on Wednesday, showing a drop in the number of deals by 7.49 per cent, and a jump in the trading volume and value by 26.04 per cent and 30.32 per cent apiece.
The surge in the activity level was due to the 134.6 million units of Access Holdings shares traded for N3.5 billion, and the 105.5 million units of Wema Bank shares exchanged for N2.8 billion. Veritas Kapital transacted 74.2 million units for N147.8 million, Zichis traded 23.3 million units valued at N290.8 million, and UBA sold 18.1 million units worth N852.5 million.