Investors in the country’s equities market on Thursday recorded N143bn advancement on their holdings at the close of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange.

A total of 31 gainers emerge, while 14 stocks declined.

Investor sentiment further strengthened as a total of 317.440 million shares worth N2.853bn exchanged hands in 3,327 deals.

The top performers were Linkage Assurance Plc, Presco Plc and Dangote Flour Plc, which recorded respective gains of 8.7 per cent, five per cent and 4.7 per cent.

The worst performers were Cadbury Nigeria Plc, MRS Oil Nigeria Plc and Continental Reinsurance Plc, which dropped by five per cent, five per cent and 4.9 per cent, accordingly.

“Performance in the near term will remain driven by investor expectation of Q3 2017 earnings results. Accordingly, we expect the market to close the week in the green,” analysts at Afrinvest Securities said in a post.

At the close of trading, the All-Share index expanded by 1.2 per cent to settle at 35,773.98 basis points while the year-to-date return advanced to 33.1 per cent.

Accordingly, investors gained N143bn as market capitalisation rose to N12.3tn.

Thursday’s positive close, according to the analysts, is attributable to price appreciations in Dangote Cement Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc, which soared by 2.4 per cent, 1.2 per cent and four per cent, respectively.

Also, activity level waxed stronger as volume and value traded improved 82.4 per cent and 4.9 per cent to settle at 317.4 million units and N2.9bn, respectively.

The industrial goods index led gainers and was up by 2.8 per cent as a result of appreciations in Dangote Cement and Lafarge.

The banking index followed suit, rising by 0.8 per cent on the back of gains in Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, which appreciated respectively by 1.2 per cent and 0.6 per cent.

The soaring of Nigerian Breweries shares pushed the consumer goods index 0.5 per cent higher. However, the insurance and oil/gas indices closed 0.4 per cent lower apiece due to losses in Continental Reinsurance Plc and Mobil Oil Nigeria Plc by 4.9 per cent, apiece.

Meanwhile, the average money market rate dipped by 2.05 per cent to settle at 7.71 per cent, as the open buy-back and overnight rates shed 1.93 per cent and 2.16 per cent, accordingly.

The average bonds yield declined by 0.04 per cent to close at 15.05 per cent.