The equities market closed on a positive note on Tuesday, delivering a N469 billion gain to investors amid sustained buying interest across key stocks.

The gain was driven by continued investor interest in stocks such as Meyer, Jaiz Bank, ABC Transport, Austinlaz, Multiverse Mining and 60 other advancing equities.

Specifically, market capitalisation, which opened at N101.806 trillion, added N469 billion, or 0.46 per cent, to close at N102.275 trillion.

The All-Share Index also gained 0.46 per cent, or 732.86 points, to settle at 159,951.08, from 159,218.22 recorded on Monday.

This positive performance led to an improvement in the year-to-date return.

Market breadth closed positive, with 65 gainers and 21 losers.

Meyer and Jaiz Bank led the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent each, closing at N14.30 and N5.28 per share, respectively.

ABC Transport gained 9.98 per cent to settle at N4.96, while Austinlaz and Multiverse Mining advanced by 9.94 per cent each to close at N5.64 and N17.70 per share, respectively.

On the losers’ chart, Aluminium Extrusion Industries declined by 9.96 per cent to close at N21.70, Learn Africa shed 9.16 per cent to end at N5.95, and Oando dipped by 7.69 per cent to settle at N40.80 per share.

Similarly, United Bank for Africa lost 6.22 per cent to close at N43, while Access Corporation fell by six per cent to end the session at N23.50 per share.

Analysis of market activity showed a four per cent decline in the number of deals, alongside a nine per cent growth in traded volume and a seven per cent increase in value.

A total of 758.9 million shares worth N19.8 billion were traded across 54,212 transactions.

This contrasted with 695.6 million shares worth N18.6 billion exchanged in 56,632 deals on Monday.

Meanwhile, Linkage Assurance recorded the highest volume, with 51.63 million shares traded, accounting for 6.80 per cent of total volume for the day.

Guaranty Trust Holding Company recorded the highest value traded at N2.04 billion, representing 10.24 per cent of the total value traded. (Punch)

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