The domestic equities market halted its bearish run on Thursday, as gains in Transcorp Hotels Plc and 15 others lifted the overall capitalization by N27 billion.
The Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index added 48.00 basis points or 0.05 per cent, to close at 98,169.30 basis points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value gained N27 billion to close at N55.521 trillion.
The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Transcorp Hotels, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), UACN and Transnational Corporation (Transcorp).
Market breadth closed negative, as 16 stocks gained relative to 24 losers. Transcorp Hotels recorded the highest price gain of 9.75 per cent to close at N96.50, per share. Livestock Feeds followed with a gain of 9.42 per cent to close at N1.51 and Tantalizer grew by 9.38 per cent to close at 35 kobo, per share.
SUNU Assurance appreciated by 7.44 per cent to close at N1.30, while Wapic Insurance rose by 6.15 per cent to close at 69 kobo, per share.
On the other hand, Sterling Financial Holdings Company led the losers’ chart by 9.69 per cent to close at N3.82, per share. CWG followed with a decline of 9.57 per cent to close at N5.20, while International Energy Insurance shed 9.30 per cent to close at N1.17, per share.
The Initiates Plc (TIP) shed 9.09 per cent to close at N1.80, while Omatek Ventures lost 8.43 per cent to close at 76 kobo, per share.
Also, the total volume of trade decreased by 24.9 per cent to 297.202 million units, valued at N6.516 billion, and exchanged in 7,417 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 48.489 million shares valued at N1.772 billion.
Access Holdings followed with 39.876 million shares worth N639.980 million, while Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) traded 28.473 million shares valued at N397.343 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 22.942 million shares valued at N523.553 million, while Nigerian Breweries (NB) transacted 20.296 million shares worth N560.158 million.
