The local bourse continued its positive trend on Thursday, sustaining a fourth consecutive gain in the week, as buying interests in the shares of Airtel Africa pushed it to an all-time high price of N774.40, gaining the maximum 10 percent.
Shares of Dangote Cement gained 2.6 percent, and Zenith Bank also gained 2.6 percent.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange All Share Index (NSE-ASI) notched a 2.1 percent increase to 36,239.62 points, with month-to-date and year-to-date returns also increasing to 3.4 percent and 35 percent, respectively.
The total volume traded declined by 47.2 percent to 343.64 million units, valued at N4.35 billion, and exchanged in 3,895 deals.
First Bank Nigeria Holdings (FBNH) was the most traded stock by volume at 99.39 million units, while Dangote Cement was the most traded stock by value at N1.35 billion.
Performance across sectors was positive — insurance (+2.4%), industrial goods (+1.3%), banking (+1.1%), oil & gas (+0.6%) and consumer goods (+0.2%).
Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive (1.7x), as 29 tickers gained, relative to 17 losers.
Airtel (+10.0%) and Ardova (+10.0%) were the top gainers, while Omatek (-9.1%) and Wapic (-9.1%) recorded the largest losses of the day
