The Nigerian stock market closed the week on a bullish trend, recording a gain of N1.077 trillion as investors witnessed sustained gains throughout the week.

The uptrend was due to increased investor demand for banking stocks, such as First Bank Holding Company, United Bank for Africa, FCMB, and others.

Market capitalisation rose by N1.077 trillion, or 1.37 per cent, to close at N79.803 trillion, up from N78.726 trillion recorded on Thursday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 1,702.79 points, or 1.37 per cent, settling at 126,149.59 from its previous close of 124,446.80.

The market breadth closed positive, with 62 gainers and 25 losers.

Guinness Nigeria led the gainers’ chart, soaring by 10 per cent, closing at N96.80, while Cadbury Nigeria also gained by 10 per cent, finishing at N60.50 per share.

NEM Insurance rose by 10 per cent, settling at N22.00, and Consolidated Hallmark Holdings also grew by 10 per cent, ending the session at N3.63 per share.

Red Star Express increased by 9.98 per cent, closing at N13.44 per share.

On the other hand, Learn Africa shed 8.66 per cent, settling at N6.01, while Tantalizer dropped by 6.25 per cent, closing at N3.00 per share.

Prestige lost 6.02 per cent, ending the session at N1.25, and Regalins fell by 5.62 per cent, finishing at 84k per share.

Oando Plc declined by 4.61 per cent, closing at N51.70 per share.

A total of 1.39 billion shares, worth N30.55 billion, were traded across 33,399 transactions, compared to 1.3 billion shares, worth N27.73 billion, that were exchanged across 27,875 transactions earlier.

Transactions in the shares of Access Corporation led the activity chart with 172.92 million shares worth N4.16 billion.

Ellah Lakes followed with 144.9 million shares valued at N1.82 billion, while Ja Paul Gold sold 138.74 million shares worth N498.76 million.

United Bank for Africa transacted 73.03 million shares valued at N3.15 billion, and AIICO Insurance traded 60.68 million shares worth N135.71 million.

(NAN)