The stock market maintained its upward momentum on Thursday, as market capitalisation rose by N138 billion, representing a 0.13 per cent increase, to close at N102.822 trillion.
The market opened the session at N102.684 trillion, signalling sustained investor confidence and extending the prevailing positive trend.
Thursday’s performance marked the 19th straight day of gains on the Nigerian Exchange, highlighting continued buying interest in selected equities.
Price appreciation in stocks such as Neimeth International Pharmaceutical, May and Baker, Etranzact International, Multiverse Mining, Mecure and 27 others supported the market’s positive close.
The All-Share Index gained 214.80 points, or 0.13 per cent, to settle at 160,806.56, up from 160,591.76 recorded in the previous session.
Despite the overall market advance, breadth closed negative, as 41 stocks declined compared with 32 gainers at the close of trading.
International Energy Insurance led the losers’ chart, falling by 9.90 per cent to N2.73 per share.
ABC Transport followed with a 9.88 per cent decline to close at N4.47 per share, while Austinlaz dropped by 9.84 per cent to N4.58 after sustained sell-offs.
Conoil also lost 9.72 per cent, ending the session at N169 per share, and Veritas Kapital Assurance fell by 9.69 per cent to close at N1.77.
On the gainers’ list, Neimeth International Pharmaceutical topped the chart with a 10 per cent rise to N7.70 per share.
May and Baker advanced by 9.85 per cent to close at N26.20, while Etranzact International gained 9.64 per cent to settle at N13.65.
Multiverse Mining appreciated by 9.51 per cent to N21.30, and Mecure rose by 9.42 per cent to close at N74.95.
Trading activity slowed during the session, with investors exchanging 645.06 million shares valued at N16.4 billion in 44,410 transactions.
This was lower than the 1.44 billion shares worth N20.7 billion traded in 49,286 deals during Wednesday’s session.
Chams led the volume chart, with 60.5 million shares worth N236.8 million traded, followed by Linkage Assurance with 54.1 million shares valued at N97.6 million.
Tantalizer recorded 44.9 million shares traded at N129.7 million, while Access Corporation exchanged 35.5 million shares valued at N815.4 million.
Champion Breweries also featured among the most active stocks, with 31.3 million shares worth N519.1 million traded.
Zenith Bank posted the highest value of trades at N1.51 billion, accounting for 9.15 per cent of total market turnover.
Commenting on the session, a market analyst noted that the sustained rally reflected selective investor positioning, despite lower trading volumes and cautious sentiment across some sectors.