The stock market continued its positive trend, with investors recording a N1.268 trillion gain on Thursday.

This uptrend was driven by increased interest in large- and mid-cap stocks such as Seplat Energy, Coronation Infrastructure Fund, Guinea Insurance, RT Briscoe, Neimeth International Pharmaceutical, and 50 other advancing stocks.

Specifically, the market capitalisation of listed equities, which opened at N107.861 trillion, gained N1.268 trillion or 1.18 per cent, to close at N109.129 trillion.

The All-Share Index also soared by 1.18 per cent or 1,975.18 points, to close at 170,005.36, against 168,030.18 recorded on Wednesday.

Accordingly, the year-to-date closed at 9.25 per cent. Also, the market breadth closed bullish with 55 gainers and 19 losers.

Seplat Energy, Coronation Infrastructure Fund and Guinea Insurance led the gainers’ chart by 10 per cent each, finishing at N7,370, N110 and N1.43 per share respectively.

RT Briscoe increased by 9.95 per cent, settling at N11.49, and Neimeth International Pharmaceutical grew by 9.90 per cent, closing at N11.10 per share.

On the flip side, Deap Capital Management led the losers’ chart by 9.62 per cent, settling at N6.20, Universal Insurance dropped by 9.43 per cent, finishing at N1.44, while Haldane McCall shed by 9.09 per cent, closing at N4 per share.

Red Star Express dipped by 9.04 per cent, finishing at N15.60, and UPDC declined by 7.02 per cent, ending the session at N5.30 per share.

A total of 712.9 million shares worth N22.3 billion were traded in 46,104 deals, against the previous session’s 694.8 million shares valued at N20.6 billion that were exchanged across 42,095 transactions.

This revealed a three per cent growth in volume, an eight per cent increase in value and a 10 per cent rise in deals.

Access Corporation recorded the highest volume with 106.63 million shares traded, accounting for 14.96 per cent of the day’s total volume.

Geregu recorded the highest value traded at N2.80 billion, accounting for 12.58 per cent of the day’s total.

Reacting to the market performance, Seun Osomo, the executive director of Vetiva Securities Ltd., said the equities market had witnessed renewed interest in the past week.

Mr Osomo said this was driven by both foreign and domestic investors, with retail participants playing a significant role in shaping market direction.

According to him, the positive sentiment was largely driven by improving macroeconomic conditions and the strengthening of the naira, which encouraged investors to focus more on local investments than on foreign currency assets.

He noted that equities had become increasingly attractive, especially as investors assess valuations and position themselves to benefit from dividend payouts and other corporate actions typically associated with this period of the year.

Mr Osomo noted that retail investors had been particularly active in recent sessions, a trend he expects to continue in the near term as market confidence remains strong.

(NAN)