The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday started trading for the month of August with a growth of N14 billion.

This was due to bargain hunting in the shares of MTN Nigeria, NASCON Allied Industries (NASCON) and 10 other stocks.

Consequently, the market capitalisation improved by N14 billion to close at N13.522 trillion against N13.508 trillion achieved on Wednesday.

In the same vein, the All-Share Index rose by 30.20 points or 0.11 per cent to close at 27,748.46 against 27,718.26 on Wednesday.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, including MTN Nigeria, NASCON, Berger Paints Nigeria, Fidson Healthcare and Flour Mills.

Analysts at Cordros Capital Limited noted, “Amidst mixed corporate earnings, our outlook for equities in the short to medium term remains conservative.”

Market breadth remained negative; 12 stocks posted gains, while 16 stocks posted declines.

Fidson Healthcare recorded the highest price gain of 9.76 per cent to close at N4.50 per share.

Berger Paints followed with a gain of 9.65 per cent to close at N6.25, while NASCON appreciated by 6.87 per cent to close at N14 per share.

Honeywell Flour Mills went up by 5.26 per cent to close at N1, while Unity Bank appreciated by 3.03 per cent to close at 68k per share.

Conversely, Eterna led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N2.70 per share.

NCR Nigeria followed with a decline of 8.62 per cent to close at N5.30, while Forte Oil went down by 8.14 to close at N18.05 per share.

Wapic Insurance lost 7.14 per cent to close at 39k, while Japaul Oil & Maritime Services shed 4.76 per cent to close at 20k per share.

However, the total volume traded declined by 61.35 per cent as investors bought and sold 97.36 million shares worth N1.77 billion traded in 2,936 deals.

This was in contrast with a total of 251.93 million shares valued at N4.13 billion exchanged in 3, 937 deals on Wednesday.

Zenith International Bank drove the activity chart with an exchange of 11.59 million shares valued at N212.74 million.

United Bank for Africa followed with a turnover of 11.22 million shares worth N67.04 million, while Lafarge Africa sold 10.21 million shares valued at N147.01 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank traded 8.37 million shares worth N235.11 million, while Transcorp transacted 7.18 million shares valued at N6.90 million. (NAN)