Gains in MTN Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) trading session drove the all-share index (ASI) further by 0.38 percent to settle at 25,236.97 points.
Consequently, investors gained N49.9 billion as market capitalisation advanced to N13.16 trillion against N13.11 trillion achieved on Wednesday.
Month-to-date (MTD) advanced further to 2.2 percent while year-to-date (YTD) loss moderated to -6.0 percent compared to -6.3 percent recorded on Wednesday.
Activity level was mixed as volume traded advanced 26.2 percent to 258.1 million units while value traded declined 56.2 percent to N1.7 billion in 3,640 shares.
This is in contrast to a total of 204.88 million shares valued at N3.83 billion recorded in 3,636 deals on Wednesday.
The bullish performance was impacted by gains recorded in MTN Nigeria (0.84 percent); Nigerian Breweries (5.88 percent); Stanbic IBTC (2.42 percent); Flour Mills (2.32 percent); and Unilever Nigeria (8.33 percent).
The top traded stocks by volume were Transcorp (105.5 million units), Zenith Bank (25.7 million units) and Chams (22.9 million units).
Zenith Bank (N430.0 million), Guaranty Trust Bank (N311.0 million) and MTN Nigeria (N152.2 million) were the top traded stocks by value.
Performance across sectors was bullish as all indices under the NSE top five sectors gained except the industrial sector that declined to 0.12 percent due to sell-offs in BUA Cement and WAPCO.
The insurance and consumer goods indices were the best performers, up by 2.6 percent and 1.5 percent respectively.
The banking and oil & gas indices trailed, gaining 0.03 percent and 0.31 percent, respectively, owing to upticks in Access Bank and Oando.
Market breadth recorded 15 advancers against 18 decliners.
The top gainers were AXA Mansard Insurance, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance, and Unilever Nigeria, while Ikeja Hotel, Academy Press, and Champion Plc lost the most.
