At the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, equities market momentum remained upbeat for the fourth consecutive session, with the benchmark index posting a 1.21 percent gain reaching 74,289.02 basis points.
This bullish rally, part of the Santa Claus rally phenomenon, was fueled by robust buying activity in major banking sector stocks as fund managers engaged in window dressing and investors selected fundamentally strong stocks toward the end of the trading year.
Basically, strong demand for key stocks like Okomu Oilpalm, MTN Nigeria Communications and Transnational Corporation contributed to the positive performance.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 49 tickers gained relative to 18 losers.
On the performance board, top gainers on Thursday included Transnational Corporation, IMG, Okomi Oilpalm Processors, Japaul Gold and Exploration and Multiverse, with 10.0 percent, 10.0 percent, 9.96 percent, 9.21 percent and 9.96 percent increase in their respective share prices.
On the downside, John Holt, Ellah Lakes, Tripple G and Regal Insurance registered adverse price movements with 10.0 percent, 9.94 percent, 9.66 percent and 8.11 percent respective decline in their share prices.
Sector-wise, investor sentiment was positive, with the banking index leading gainers with a 1.41 percent increase, followed by the Insurance and Industrial indexes with mild gains of 0.61 percent and 0.01 percent, respectively.
However, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas sectors experienced declines of 0.15 percent and 0.05 percent due to sell-offs.
Analysis of market activities for the day under review showed trade turnover settling higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 1.54 percent.
A total of 760.93 million shares valued at N13.03 billion were exchanged in 7,990 deals. ABBEYBDS led the volume with 224.08 million units traded while Nestle Nigeria led the value chart with deals worth N2.65 billion.
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