Trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) maintained positive trend on Thursday for the third consecutive days, as its indices increased further by 0.13 percent.

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Specifically, the All-Share Index increased by 33.28 points 0.13 per cent to close at 25,204.60 compared with 25,171.32 achieved on Wednesday.

As a result, the Month-to-Date gain increased to 2.1 per cent while Year-to-Date loss moderated to -6.1per cent.

Also, the market capitalisation, which opened at N13.131 trillion, rose by N18 billion to close at N13.149 trillion.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, which included Chemical and Allied Products, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, International Breweries, GlaxoSmithKline and Fidson Healthcare.

Analysts attributed the three-day growth to buying interest in defensive high stocks with yields relatively higher than other investment windows.

They said that the nation’s rising inflation remained a threat to investors’ confidence.

However, the market breadth remained positive with 17 stocks against 11 losers.

International Breweries led the gainers’ table in percentage terms by 10 per cent to close at N3.30 per share.

Cutix followed with 9.71 per cent to close at N1.92, while Neimeth grew by 9.55 per cent to close at N1.95 per share.

Livestock Feeds rose by 9.09 per cent to close at 60k, while Fidson Healthcare appreciated by 6.74 per cent to close at N3.96 per share.

Conversely, Studio Press Nigeria led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 9.60 per cent to close at N1.79 per share.

UACN Property lost 9.47 per cent to close at 86k, while Associated Bus Company dipped 8.51 per cent to close at 43k per share.

Royal Exchange shed 7.14 per cent to close at 26k, while Japaul Oil dropped 4.76 per cent to close at 20k per share.

In spite of the growth indices, the volume of shares traded dropped marginally by 0.26 per cent with 179.55 million shares worth N2.53 billion traded in 3,055 deals.

This is in contrast to the 180.01 million shares valued at N1.54 billion shares exchanged in 3,108 deals on Wednesday.

Transactions in the shares of Transcorp topped the activity chart with 35.48 million shares valued at N21.47 million.

Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 29.94 million shares worth N755.91 million, while Lasaco Assurance traded 11.86 million shares valued at N3.51 million.

FBN Holdings sold 9.98 million shares worth 49.93 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 9.65 million shares valued at N163.46 million.