Speficially, the All-Share Index rose by 2,074.10 points or 6.23 per cent to close at 35,342.46 from 33,268.36 posted on Wednesday.

Consequently, Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date gains increased to 15.8 per cent and 31.7 per cent, respectively.

Also, the market capitalisation inched higher by N1.08 trillion to close at N18.467 trillion compared with N17.383 trillion achieved on Wednesday.

The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nestle Nigeria, Airtel Africa, Dangote Cement, Presco and Nigerian Breweries.

Market breath closed positive with 65 gainers in contrast with eight losers.

C&I Leasing, Cadbury Nigeria, Cutix, Julius Berger, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills, Presco, Sterling Bank, BUA Cement and Airtel Africa led the gainers’ chart in percentage terms, gaining 10 per cent each, to close at N4.51, N11, N2.09, N19.25, N7.70, N79.75, N2.42, N51.15 and N451.20 per share, respectively.

Zenith Bank followed with 9.96 per cent to close at N28.15, while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals went up by 9.92 per cent to close at N2.66 per share.

On the other hand, Global Spectrum Energy Services led the losers’ chart in percentage terms, losing 9.89 per cent to close at N4.19, per share.

Eterna followed with a loss of 9.86 per cent to close at N4.57, while May and Baker depreciated by 9.72 per cent to close at N3.25 per share.

Morison Industries shed 9.26 per cent to close at 49k, while Regency Alliance Insurance and Union Diagnostic lost 7.69 per cent each to close at 24k per share, respectively.

In the same vein, the total volume of shares traded increased by 39.04 per cent with a total of 1.19 billion shares worth N17.39 billion achieved in 10,704 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 858.16 million shares valued at N9.06 billion exchanged in 8,142 deals on Wednesday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 161.38 million shares worth N4.46 million.

FBN Holdings sold 121.49 million shares valued at N1.01 billion, while Access Bank traded 100.85 million shares worth N992.77 million.

United Bank for Africa exchanged 80.45 million shares valued at N770.43 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 79.50 million shares worth N239.48 million. (NAN)