Nigeria’s stock market sustained bullish sentiments as its market value hit N22.059 trillion at the close of Thursday’s trading session. Following gains in banking stocks such as Stanbic, Zenith Bank and GT Bank, the NSE All Share Index (ASI) rose by 0.57 per cent to close at 42,169.41 points while the year-to-date (YTD ) return improved to 4.7 per cent even as investors gained N125 billion.
Further analysis of yesterday’s session showed that activity level was mixed as the volume of stocks traded rose by 2.2 per cent to 555.3 million units while value of stocks traded dipped by 21.3 per cent to N5.8 billion which exchanged hands in 6,386 deals.
The most traded stocks by volume were Transcorp (76.2 million units), Union Bank (75.9 million units) and Zenith Bank (35.2 million units) while Zenith Bank (N936.8 million), Wapco (N726.7 million) and GT Bank (N708.7 million) led by value. Commenting on the performance of the market, Afrinvest, said, they expect the market to end on a positive note.
Meanwhile, investors’ sentiment for stocks was mixed as 28 stocks appreciated in value while 22 others depreciated in value. Port Paints topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N3.19 per share, Julius Berger followed with 9.95 per cent to close at N22.65, NPF Microfinance Bank increased by 9.71 per cent to close at N1.92, Champion Breweries rose by 9.69 per cent to close at N2.83 while Japaul Gold garnered 9.41 per cent to close at 0.93 kobo.
On the flipside, Academy led the laggards with 10 per cent to close at 0.36 kobo per share. Sovereign Insurance dropped 9.68 per cent to close at 0.28 kobo, Courtville fell by 9.09 per cent to close at 0.20 kobo, Guinea Insurance was next with 9.09 per cent to close at 0.20 kobo while Niger Insurance lost 8.70 per cent to close at 0.21 kobo.

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