Trading activity on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday returned bullish, as investors bought more of banking stocks, given the recent decline in share prices of most tier-1 banks.
As a result, the All-Share Index rose by 0.54 per cent to close at 38,914.84 basis points.
Also, the market capitalisation appreciated by 0.54 per cent to close at N20.36tn.
At the close of Thursday’s trading session, investors gained N109.2bn. While 22 stocks gained, 12 declined.
Hence, the Year-to-Date loss of the ASI moderated to -3.36 per cent.
Notably, share prices of Guaranty Trust Bank, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa and Lafarge Africa rose by 6.43 per cent, 7.32 per cent, 1.43 per cent and 2.73 per cent.
The performance of these stocks lifted the banking and industrial indices by 4.40 per cent and 0.16 per cent.
However, the insurance, consumer goods and oil and gas indices moderated by 0.78 per cent, 0.24 per cent and 0.13 per cent to close in red.
Trading activity was upbeat, as total volume of stocks traded surged by 727.76 per cent to 1.47 billion, as one billion worth of Unity Bank’s stock exchanged hands on Thursday.
