The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) on Thursday posted a first-week gain, with the market capitalisation rebounding by N467 billion amid renewed investor interest.

Specifically, the market capitalisation opened at N55,058 trillion and gained N467 billion or 0.84 per cent to close at N55,525 trillion.

The All-Share Index also advanced by 813.3 points, or 0.84 per cent, to close at 98,156.71, compared to 97,343.42 recorded on Wednesday.

Investors improved buy interest in the stocks of Airtel, Nigerian Breweries, Fidelity Bank and some insurance companies drove the market to a positive terrain.

Consequently, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return rose to 31.27 per cent.

Sam Ndata, a doyen of the capital market, told journalists that the flip-flop trading sessions were not unusual for a perfect market.

Mr Ndata said a regular market would continue to fluctuate up and down to balance trading.

He explained that many investors were improving their buy interest in insurance companies and some other blue chips while taking profits in tier-one banking stocks due to the ongoing recapitalisation process.

According to him, investors monitor the performances of bank stocks to identify those that will survive the recapitalisation phase before investing.

“Investors would continue to sway from one sector to another as they monitor the policies that may affect them either positively or negatively, “he said.

However, the market breadth closed negative, with 24 declined equities outnumbering 15 advanced ones.

On the losers’ table, Eterna led by 9.89 per cent to close at N12.30, FCMB trailed by 8.28 per cent to close at N6.65 per share.

Omatek dropped 6.94 per cent to close at 67k, Unity Bank lost 5.88 per cent to close at N1.60 and FBN Holdings 5.36 per cent to close at N22.95 per share.

Conversely, Guinea Insurance and Royal Exchange Assurance led the gainers’ table by 10 per cent each to close at 33k and 55k per share respectively.

Airtel Africa gained 8.97 per cent to close at N2,150, International Energy Insurance rose by 7.84 per cent to close at N1.65, and Prestige Assurance added 5.88 per cent to close at 54k per share.

Analysis of the market activity showed that trade turnover settled 24.95 per cent higher than the previous session.

A total of 409.77 million shares valued at N8.93 billion were exchanged in 7,296 deals, compared to 355.55 million shares valued at N7.14 billion traded in 7,333 deals recorded on Wednesday.

Custodian led the activity chart in volume with 115.53 million shares valued at N1.38 billion; Nigeria Breweries followed with 83.75 million shares worth N1.93 billion to lead the value chart.

United Bank of Africa(UBA)traded 26.06 million shares valued at N560.54 million; Access Corporation traded 24.18 million shares worth N409.80 million.

Guaranty Trust Holding Company(GTCO) transacted 22.93 million shares valued at N946.86 million.

(NAN)