Equity trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Thursday recorded improved activities, as significant gains wiped off a six-day loss recorded for the greater part of last week.
The market capitalisation of the listed equities gained N124bn or 1.4 per cent to N8.862tn, up from N8.737tn recorded at the close of Monday's trading.
Similarly, the NSE's All-Share Index rose by 1.4 per cent or 391.03 basis points from 27,346.66 basis points to 27,737.69 basis points.
The NSE-30 Index also rose by 1.1 per cent or 14.82 basis points to 1317.60 points, up from 1,302.78 points on Monday, while the Consumer Goods Index rose by 0.3 per cent or 2.20 basis points from 827.66 points to 829.86 basis points.
The banking index and the insurance index also gained 1.37 per cent or 1.5 per cent to close at 328.26 points and 116.28 points respectively.
Fidson Plc led 22 other stocks on the price gainers' chart, as it rose by eight per cent or eight kobo to close at N1.08 per share.
Okomu Oil Palm Plc and Dangote Cement Plc gained five per cent each to close at N39.90 and N128.10 per share respectively, while Eterna Plc and National Salt Company of Nigeria Plc rose by 4.9 per cent each to close at N1.90 and N7.49 per share in that order.
On the other hand, Forte Oil Plc led 11 other stocks on the price losers' chart, shedding 4.9 per cent or 40 kobo to close at N7.73 per share.
International Breweries Plc lost 0.9 per cent or 15 kobo to close at N15.75 per share, while Transnationwide Express Plc and Stanbic IBTC Holding Plc fell by 4.7 per cent and 0.6 per cent to close at N2.78 and N10.93 per share in that order.
The banking sub-sector maintained its lead on the activity chart, as trading in the sub-sector accounted for 43 per cent of total volume recorded on Thursday.
In the sub-sector, investors exchanged 103.51 million shares, worth N909m in 1,075 transactions.
Volume in the sub-sector was driven by trading in the shares of United Bank for Africa Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.
