The Nigerian Stock Exchange sustained positive rally on Thursday with the market capitalisation increasing by N26bn on the back of interim dividends declared by some banks.
The market capitalisation which opened at N13.282tn rose by N26bn or 0.20 per cent to close at N13.308tn.
Also, the All-Share Index grew by 51.02 points or 0.20 per cent to close at 25,511.02 against 25,460 recorded on Wednesday.
The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are MTN Nigeria, Vitafoam, UACN, Zenith Bank and FCMB Group.
Capital market analysts attributed the persistent growth to positioning embarked upon by investors in interim dividend-paying banking stocks.
They observed that the present state of the market was good for short, medium and long-term opportunities.
The analysts, however, urged investors to take a position in fundamentally sound and dividend-paying stocks for possible capital appreciation.
UACN Property Development drove the activity chart in percentage terms, growing by 8.33 per cent to close at 91k per share.
Linkage Assurance followed with 7.69 per cent to close at 42k, while Royal Exchange appreciated by 6.45 per cent to close at 33k per share.
Wapic Insurance rose by 6.06 per cent to close at 35k, while Vitafoam appreciated by 5.09 per cent to close at N5.78 per share.
On the other hand, Neimeth topped the laggards’ chart in percentage terms, declining by 6.50 per cent to close at N1.87 per share.
AIICO dipped 5.26 per cent to close at 90k, while Sterling Bank lost 4.80 per cent to close at N1.19 per share.
Lasaco Assurance shed 3.85 per cent to close at 25k, while Transcorp lost 1.69 per cent to close at 58k per share.
The total volume of shares transacted improved by 28.18 per cent with 232.42m shares worth N1.32bn exchanged in 3,377 deals.
This was in contrast with 181.32m shares valued at N1.12bn traded in 1,073 deals on Wednesday.
Transactions in the shares of Transcorp topped the activity chart, accounting for 70.62m shares valued at N40.06m.
Zenith sold 25.49m shares worth N435.19m, while Lasaco traded 17.10m shares valued at N4.464m.
Access Bank traded 14.78m shares worth N94.68m, while United Bank for Africa transacted 13.20m shares valued at N85.95m.
