Transactions maintained upward trend on Thursday with the market indicators appreciating further by 0.38 per cent, amid MTN Nigeria gains.

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Specifically, the All- Share Index rose by 95.49 points or 0.38 per cent to close at 25,236.97 compared with 25,141.48 posted on Wednesday.

In the same vein, the market capitalisation rose by N50 billion or 0.38 per cent to close at N13.165 trillion against N13.115 trillion achieved on Wednesday.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nigerian Breweries, Unilever Nigeria, MTNN, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Flour Mills.

Capital market watchers attributed the renewed positive trend of the market to rising crude oil price at the international market and hope for interim dividend.

AXA Mansard Insurance led the gainers in percentage terms, gaining 9.66 per cent to close at N1.59 per share.

Consolidated Hallmark Insurance came second with 8.82 per cent to close at 37k, while Unilever appreciated by 8.33 per cent to close at N13 per share.

Prestige Assurance went up by 8.16 per cent to close at 53k, while Nigerian Breweries appreciated by 5.88 per cent to close at N36 per share.

On the other hand, Ikeja Hotel led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, declining by 9.90 per cent to close at 91k per share.

Academy Press followed with a decline of 8.97 per cent to close at 30k, while Champion Breweries also lost 8.97 per cent to close at 71k per share.

Unity Bank shed 8.47 per cent to close at 54k, while Neimeth International depreciated by five per cent to close at N1.90 per share.

Transcorp topped the activity chart with 105.499 million shares valued at N429.954 million.

Zenith Bank followed with 25.66 million shares worth N429.95 million, while Chams traded 22.94 million shares valued at N4.83 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank traded 12.53 million shares worth N311.02 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 7.84 million shares worth N39.59 million.

In all, the total volume of shares traded increased by 25.97 per cent to 258.08 million shares worth N1.68 billion achieved in 3,640 deals.

This was in contrast with a total of 204.88 million shares valued at N3.83 billion recorded in 3,636 deals on Wedensday.