Nigerian stocks advanced 1.35 per cent or N364.4 billion Tuesday in a rally marking one of biggest daily movements of the benchmark index as the pull of broadly strong half-year corporate performance drew investors to equity.

The main equity index hit its lowest level in roughly three months on 28th July but a good number of the half-year financials of big and mid-cap companies turned positive with some declaring dividends, triggering the sentiment needed to drive gains.

Sector titans MTN Nigeria and Nestle set the climb in motion, with further boost from Tier 1 lenders Zenith and GTCO.

“We expect the market to see a rebound as bargain hunting activities resume due to the low valuations in the market at the moment,” said analysts at investment bank United Capital.

“That said, we advise investors to continue to exercise caution as we expect to see more volatility in the medium to long term as long as interest rates remain high.”

A positive market breadth was reported, showing 19 gainers against 9 laggards at the end of trade.

The all-share index increased 675.7 points to 50,626 points, while market capitalisation closed higher at N27.3 trillion.

The index has seen a 18.5 per cent gain in January to date.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

Honeywell Flour traded up by 9.7 per cent to close at N2.27. Jaiz Bank went up 9.5 per cent to N0.81. Caverton rose to N1.19, notching up 8.2 per cent in the process. Japaul Gold added 8 per cent to end trade at N0.27. Mansard completed the top 5, climbing by 7.6 per cent to N1.85.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

McNichols was the worst performing stock, declining by 9.8 per cent to close at N0.74. Wapic shed 9.8 per cent to close at N0.37. Chams fell to N0.23, losing 8 per cent. NGX Group slumped to N21.35, recording 2.73 per cent depreciation. UBA closed at N7.05, going down by 2.08 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

In all, 129.2 shares estimated at N2.9 billion were traded today in 4,706 deals.

FBN Holdings traded the most shares with 14.6 million units of its common stockworth N159.6 million traded in 145 transactions. Multiverse transacted 9.5 million shares priced at N18 million exchanged hands in 5 transactions. GTCO had 9.4 million shares valued at N191 million traded in 350 deals. Zenith traded 9.3 million shares estimated at N196.2 million in 350 transactions. AIICO traded 6.4 million shares valued at N3.8 million in 64 deals.

PT