The Nigerian equities market yesterday closed transactions on a bullish note extending the positive sentiment to two consecutive trading sessions, as market capitalisation grew by N237 billion.

The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Airtel Africa, BUA Cement, Nigerian Breweries, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) and Nigerian Exchange Group.

In summary, the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) expanded by 454.40 basis points, representing a rise of 1.10 per cent, to close at 41,704.11 basis points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value surged by N238 billion to close at N21.764 trillion.

Performance across sectors was broadly positive as all sectors under our coverage – Industrial Goods (+2.2 per cent), Insurance (+1.6 per cent), Consumer Goods (+1.5 per cent) and Banking (+0.2 per cent) – save for the Oil & Gas (-0.4 per cent) index recorded gains.

Resultantly, the market breadth closed positive, recording 23 gainers as against 18 losers. Cutix recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N5.50, per share.

Nigerian Exchange Group followed with a gain 9.79 per cent to close at N23.55, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance appreciated by 9.09per cent to close at 60 kobo, per share.

Nigerian Breweries went up by 7.41 per cent to close at N51.45, while BUA Cement appreciated by 6.12 per cent to close at N72.00, per share. On the other hand, The Initiates Plc (TIP) led the losers’ chart by 8.51 per cent to close at 43 kobo, per share. Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals followed with a decline of 4.86 per cent to close at N1.76, while Universal Insurance lost 4.76 per cent to close at 20 kobo, per share.

Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO) shed 3.61 per cent to close at N3.47, while Unity Bank and Royal Exchange depreciated by 3.51 per cent each to close at 55 kobo each, per share.

The total volume of trades declined by 56.7 per cent to 216.195 million units, valued at N3.381 billion, and exchanged in 4,272 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBNH topped the activity chart with 51.915 million shares valued at N628.328 million. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) followed with 20.02 million shares worth N143.691 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) traded 14.646 million shares valued at N14.974 million.

Access Bank traded 13.034 million shares valued at N124.228 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 12.481 million shares worth N34.160 million.

According to analysts at investment One research: “The equities market closed up today due to gains in most sectors.

“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space. We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”