Bullish sentiments persisted on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Ltd on Thursday with the market capitalisation increasing further by N237 billion due to investors’ sentiment in bellwethers.

The bellwethers are BUA Cement, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) and Airtel Africa.

Specifically, the market capitalisation surged by N237 billion to close at N21.764 trillion against N21.526 trillion posted on Wednesday.

Similarly, the All-Share Index expanded by 454.40 points or 1.10 per cent to close at 41,704.11 from 41,249.71 achieved on Wednesday.

Consequently, month-to-date and year-to-date gains increased to 3.7 per cent and 3.6 per cent, respectively.

The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Airtel Africa, BUA Cement, Nigerian Breweries, Nigerian Exchange Group and MTNN.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said, “In the final trading session of the week, we anticipate a pullback occasioned by profit-taking activities.”

Consequently, the market breadth closed positive with 23 gainers as against 18 losers.

Cutix drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 10 per cent to close at N5.50 per share.

Nigerian Exchange Group followed with 9.79 per cent to close at N23.55, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance appreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at 60k per share.

Nigerian Breweries went up by 7.41 per cent to close at N51.45, while BUA Cement appreciated by 6.12 per cent to close at N72 per share.

On the other hand, The Initiates Plc (TIP) led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 8.51 per cent to close at 43k per share.

Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals followed with 4.86 per cent to close at N1.76, while Universal Insurance lost 4.76 per cent to close at 20k per share.

Nigerian Aviation Handling Company shed 3.61 per cent to close at N3.47, while Unity Bank and Royal Exchange depreciated by 3.51 per cent each to close at 55k per share.

The total volume of trades declined by 56.7 per cent to 216.19 million units valued at N3.38 billion exchanged in 4,272 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 499.51 million shares worth N5.08 billion exchanged in 5,998 deals on Wednesday.

Transactions in the shares of FBNH topped the activity chart with 51.92 million shares valued at N628.33 million.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated followed with 20.02 million shares worth N143.69 million, while Transcorp traded 14.65 million shares valued at N14.97 million.

Access Bank traded 13.03 million shares worth N124.23 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 12.48 million shares worth N34.16 million.