Bullish trading resurfaced on the stock market on Thursday leading to a gain of N902bn.
This came after two bearish sessions on the back of profit-taking activities.
A similar trend was recorded on NASDAQ, Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 as stocks on the platforms posted their worst day of 2024 on Wednesday after the Federal Reserve decided to hold interest rates steady.
The domestic bourse All-Share Index and market capitalisation rose by 1.63 per cent to close at 102,802.25 points and N56.26tn, respectively.
The year-to-date return of the market improved to 37.48 per cent.
Market sentiment was positive leading to 53 gainers and 19 losers. Caverton (10 per cent), Chams (10 per cent), Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (10 per cent), VeristasKap and Nascon Allied Industries (9.98 per cent) were investors’ major toasts.
On the flip side, DEAPCAP (-9.88 per cent), Computer Warehouse Group (-9.87 per cent), and RT BRISCOE (-9.86 per cent) saw downward repricing.
Performance across the sectors indicated broad-based gains as the five sub-sector indices tracked closed in the green territory.
The banking sector led the gainers with a 7.82 per cent increase, fuelled by buy interest in the top banks, such as Zenith Bank, Access Holdings, UBA, GTCO and Fidelity.
The Consumer Goods sector followed suit with a substantial increase of 4.37 per cent, particularly driven by Dangote Sugar, Honeywell Flour Mill Cadburt and BUA Foods
The Insurance, Oil/Gas and Industrial indexes posted gains of 2.18 per cent, 0.02 per cent and 0.35 per cent, respectively.
Meanwhile, the total deals and value declined by 10.06 per cent and 45.96 per cent to 12,851 trades and N12.16bn, respectively.
The total traded volume for the day increased by 14.93 per cent to 861.01 million units.
At the end of the trading session, Universal Insurance was the most traded security in terms of volume with 113.76 million units changing hands in 110 deals, while Zenith Bank led in traded value at N2.76bn.
SOURCE: PUNCHNG
