Equities rebounded yesterday as bargain hunting in MTN Nigeria, and 30 stocks lifted market capitalisation by N694 billion. At the close of transactions, the all share index (ASI) gained by 1,088.58 points, representing a growth of 0.74 per cent to close at 147,950.59 points.

Also, market capitalisation gained N694 billion to close at N 94.319 trillion. The upturn was impacted by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), Nigerian Breweries, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Berger Paints and Eunisell Interlinked.

Market sentiment closed positive, with 31 advancing counters outpacing 24 declining stocks. Berger Paints and Japaul Gold & Ventures recorded the highest price gain of 9.88 per cent each to close at N40.05 per cent and N2.78 kobo respectively, while Morison Industries followed with a gain of 9.77 per cent to close at N4.27 kobo.

PZ Cussons Nigeria rose by 9.36 per cent to close at N45, while Legend Internet rose by 8.91 per cent to close at N5.50 kobo. On the other hand, John Holt led the losers’ chart by 9.26 per cent to close at N4.9 per share. Champion Breweries followed with a decline of 7.86 per cent to close at N12.90 kobo, while Eterna declined by 5.48 per cent to close at N30.20 kobo. VFD Group depreciated by 5.07 per cent to close at N10.30, while The Initiates Plc (TIP) declined by 4.8 per cent to close at N11.90 kobo.

On the sector performance, the Insurance sector led the activity chart with 2.99 per cent, followed by a 1.15 per cent advance in consumer goods and a slight 0.01 per cent uptick in industrial goods. Banking slipped 0.35 per cent and oil & gas dipped by 0.03 per cent while the commodity sector closed flat.

Meanwhile, the total volume traded declined by 29.1 per cent to 529.702 million units, valued at N12.314 billion, and exchanged in 18,159 deals. Transactions in the shares of Access Holdings topped the activity chart with 156.32 million shares valued at N3.164 billion.

FCMB Group followed with 74.54 million shares worth N819.501 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 42.938 million shares valued at N812.701 million.

Japaul Gold & Ventures traded 41.151 million shares valued at N105.991 million, while Zenith Bank sold 20.329 million shares worth N1.311 billion.