Investors were positive about the shares of Oando Plc, propelling it to rise by 10 per cent at the close of trading at the Nigerian Exchange on Wednesday, as market capitalisation gained N113bn.

Oando shares rose on the back of the $800m deal it signed with the African Export-Import Bank at the Intra-African Trade Fair, which was held in Cairo, Egypt.

The oil firm acquired a 20 per cent stake in Nigerian Agip Oil Company Limited. This includes Oil Mining Leases 60, 61, 62, and 63, as well as the entire issued share capital of NAOC, acquired from Eni S.A.

The All-Share Index rose by 0.25 per cent and crossed the 71,000 mark to settle at 71,014.34 basis points, while the market capitalisation stood at N39.053tn.

This was despite the release of the inflation figure for October, which rose to 27.33 per cent, on the back of higher food inflation.

During the day’s trade, both the volume of trade and the number of deals dropped by 9.18 per cent and 5.52 per cent to 297,353,588 million units and 6,172 deals, respectively. However, the value of trade rose significantly by 82.88 per cent to N6.16bn.

Market breadth, a measure of investors’ sentiments, was higher compared to the previous day’s trading, resulting in 39 gainers and 19 losers. Oando and Omatek led the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent appreciation to close at N11.55 and N0.77 per unit respectively. MeCure Industries gained 9.92 per cent to close at N5.21, C&I Leasing, which recently offered shareholders bonus shares gained 9.87 per cent to close at N4.12 and Meyer Plc added 9.73 per cent to close at N3.27 per unit.

On the losers table were SCOA Nigeria Plc, whose shares dipped by 9.68 per cent to close at N1.12 and Sovereign Trust Insurance’s shares were down by 8.82 per cent to close at N0.31. Cornerstone Insurance lost 4.83 per cent to close at N1.38, while Cadbury’s shares closed lower at N13.80 per unit following a 4.17 per cent drop and AIICO lost 4.05 per cent to close at N0.71 per cent.