The Nigerian stock market sustained its upward momentum on Thursday, with investors recording gains of ₦138 billion as bullish sentiment continued.
Market capitalisation on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) rose by 0.13 per cent to close at ₦102.822 trillion, marking the 19th straight session of gains and reflecting strong investor confidence and sustained buying interest in selected equities.
Trading data showed that price increases in stocks such as Neimeth International Pharmaceutical, May & Baker, eTranzact International, Multiverse Mining, Mecure and 27 others helped push the market higher.
The NGX All-Share Index climbed by 214.80 points, or 0.13 per cent, to settle at 160,806.56, up from 160,591.76 in the previous session.
Despite the overall market gain, breadth remained negative, as 41 stocks closed lower compared to 32 gainers. International Energy Insurance led the losers with a 9.90 per cent decline to ₦2.73 per share, followed by ABC Transport, Austinlaz, Conoil and Veritas Kapital Assurance.
Market activity weakened, with a total of 645.06 million shares valued at ₦16.4 billion traded in 44,410 deals, compared to 1.44 billion shares worth ₦20.7 billion exchanged in 49,286 transactions in the prior session.
Chams topped the volume chart, trading 60.5 million shares valued at ₦236.8 million, followed by Linkage Assurance with 54.1 million shares worth ₦97.6 million. Access Corporation recorded 35.5 million shares valued at ₦815.4 million, while Champion Breweries traded 31.3 million shares worth ₦519.1 million.
Zenith Bank led in terms of value, with trades worth ₦1.51 billion, accounting for 9.15 per cent of total market turnover.
Meanwhile, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Thursday commended the NGX for surpassing the ₦100 trillion market capitalisation milestone.