By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday sustained its bullish momentum as all-share index (ASI) climbed up 0.17 percent to close at 30,410.39 basis points, while market capitalisation grew by N17.50 billion to N10.45 trillion.

Today’s gain coming on the heels of Banking and Consumer Goods stocks increased the Month-to-Date (M-t-D) gain to 2.44 percent and pared the Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) loss to 12.25 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.

The update says three (3) of the five (5) NSE sectoral indices gained, the Banking index added 0.60 percent following gains in shares of lenders Zenith Bank Plc with 2.25 percent, First City Monument Bank 2.54 percent and United Bank for Africa Plc 1.48 percent amongst others.

According to Cordros, other gaining sector indices include Consumer Goods and Insurance, adding 0.05 percent and 0.10 percent respectively.

On the contrary, losses in the shares of construction company Costain West African Plc by 4.69 percent, cement maker, Lafarge Cement Wapco Nigeria Plc with a loss of 1.01 percent and paint producer, Berger Paints Nigeria Plc 0.42 percent dragged the Industrial index to a 0.35 percent loss, while the Oil/Gas index shed 0.03 percent, the Cordros report affirmed.

At the close of today’s trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth sustained a positive outlook with 23 gainers and 19 losers recorded.

Okomu Oil Palm Company Plc emerged top gainer with a gain of N1.35 kobo per share; while beer maker, Premier Breweries Plc topped the Losers chart with a loss 0.15 kobo per share to close the day.

In terms of turnover, volume traded on the Nigerian equities market grew by 24.75 percent to N211.89 million shares, valued at N2.7 billion and traded in 3,051 deals.

“We expect the market to moderate gains in the coming session,” the Cordros update affirmed.