The domestic equity market on Thursday opened trading for the year on a positive note, appreciating by N155 billion as gains recorded by small and medium stocks boosted trading activities for the day.
The NGX All Share Index also improved by 253.74 basis points to 103180.14 points from 102926.40 points recorded the previous day.
The positive performance during day was driven by gains in the shares of UBA, Access Holding Company, RTBriscoe,FBNHoldings, Nahco , Fidson, Royal Express, NCR and other firms.
As a result year to date return stood at 0.25 er cent as 58 companied closed in green against eight that closed in red.
A review of trading for the day showed that
The NGX trading for the day showed that seven companies recorded 10 per cent gain. Cutix Plc, International General Insurance, Mansard, NCR gained 10 per cent each to close at N2.53, N1.87, N9.02 and N5.50 per share respectively. Royal Express, RTBriscoe and Cornerstone Insurance also added 10 per cent each to close at N1.10 , N2.75 and N3.96 per unit respectively. Africa Prudential followed with a gain of 9.98 to close at N22.60 per share while Prestige insurance added 9.92 per cent to close at N1.33 per share.
On the contrary, EllahLakes topped losers chart, declining by 4.75 per cent to close at N3.01 per share, Nascon followed with a drop of 4.31 per cent to close at N30.00 per unit, CWG fell by 3.25 per cent to close at N7.45 per unit, Fidelity Bank down by 2.86 per cent to close at N17.00 while International Breweries dipped by 0.90 per cent to close at N5.50 per share.
Volume of trades increased by 391.966 million, representing 89.54 per cent as investors traded 829.754 million shares valued at N5.666 billion in 11752 deals against 437.758 million shares worth 40.335 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 8830 deals.