BY FESTUS OKOROMADU
The Nigerian Equities Market closed positively on Thursday as the key market indicator, the NGX All Share Index advanced by 0.16 percent to close at 66,548.99 basis points.
When compared with the 0.08 percent loss recorded the previous day to close at 66,439.53 basis points, translating to 109.46 basis points gain amid positive market breadth.
The gains were boosted by positive trading sentiment in the share prices of SEPLAT, NAHCO, UBA, GTCO, and ACCESSCORP which appreciated by 9.95 percent, 2.61 percent, 1.45 percent, 1.10 percent, and 0.61 percent, respectively.
In Naira terms, the NGX Market CAP recorded a N59.91bn gain, as renewed bargain hunting resulted in the posting of 31 gainers against 19 losers at the close of trade.
Consequently, the year-to-date gain of the NGX ASI climbed to 29.85 percent.
However, performance across sub-indices was largely negative except for the NGX Banking and the NGX Oil/Gas indexes, which rose by 0.33 percent and 5.42 percent, respectively.
The NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods, and NGX Oil/Gas indices fell by 0.38 percent, 1.14 percent, and 0.01 percent, respectively.
Meanwhile, market activity was sluggish, with total deals, volume, and value decreasing by 20.54 percent, 2.54 percent, and 7.83 percent, respectively, amounting to 7,972 trades, 620.98 million units, and N7.18 billion.
In terms of volume, STERLINGNG emerged as the most actively traded stock, with 161.00 million shares worth N531.39 million changing hands in 93 deals.
