Investors in the equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited gained N35.44bn fueled by buyer interest in large-cap stocks on Thursday after three consecutive days of losses.

The NGX All-Share Index rose by 0.17 per cent to 39,252.19 basis points from 39,184.18bps on Wednesday while the market capitalisation increased to N20.45tn from N20.42tn the previous day.

The NGX Premium Index, consisting of the large-cap stocks on the bourse, grew by 0.44 per cent on the back of gains recorded by Dangote Cement Plc, Zenith Bank Plc, United Bank for Africa Plc, and FBN Holdings Plc, among others.

Analysing by sector, the NGX Banking, NGX Industrial and NGX Insurance indices appreciated by 0.19 per cent, 0.44 per cent, and 1.07 per cent, respectively at the end of trading on the floor of the exchange, while the NGX Oil & Gas, and the NGX Consumer Goods indices fell by 1.22 per cent and 0.06 per cent, respectively.

Trading activity increased as the volume of shares exchanged on Thursday jumped by 54.84 per cent from 169.30 million shares valued at N1.42bn in 3,449 deals on Wednesday to 262.14 million shares worth N2.00bn traded in 3,955 deals.

Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative as 16 firms gained compared to 18 losers.

Chams Plc recorded the biggest gain as its share price rose by 4.76 per cent to close at N0.22.

Prestige Assurance Plc’s share price increased by 4.35 per cent, closing at N0.48 per share. Other top gainers on Thursday were Wema Bank Plc (3.66 per cent), AXA Mansard Insurance Plc (3.49 per cent) and Julius Berger (2.97 per cent).