At the close of equities trading sessions on Tuesday at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the All-Share index advanced by 0.1 percent to 100,067.77 basis points.

Investor interest in blue-chip companies like Guaranty Trust Holding Company, Zenith Bank, and United Bank for Africa pushed the broader index into positive territory, with these bellwethers appreciating in share value by 1.88 percent, 2.59 percent, and 2.25 percent, respectively.

Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at 0.0 percent and +33.8 percent, respectively. Equities investors earned N25.72 billion cumulatively as the market capitalization settled at N56.61 trillion.

Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative with 24 tickers losing relative to 22 gainers.

Notably, stocks such as Cornerstone Insurance, Jaiz Bank, Wapic Insurance, Fidson Pharmaceuticals, and Guinea Insurance were the top performers, leading the gainers chart with share value appreciations of 10.00 percent, 9.95 percent, 9.59 percent, 9.26 percent, and 8.82 percent, respectively.

Sectoral performance was mixed with three of the five indices tracked closing lower. The NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil/Gas, and NGX Industrial Goods indices fell by 0.34 percent, 0.03 percent, and 0.01 percent, respectively. On the other hand, the NGX Banking index rose by 0.79 percent, driven by share price gains in major banks such as Access Holdings, Zenith Bank, United Bank for Africa, and Guaranty Trust Holding Company. The NGX Insurance index also recorded a 1.99 percent gain.

Analysis of market activities on Tuesday showed trade turnover higher compared to the previous session, with the value of transactions increasing by 10.86 percent. A total of 365.64 million units of shares valued at N4.12 billion were exchanged in 8,665 deals.

Universal Insurance led the volume chart with 61.53 million units, while United Capital led the value chart with deals worth N711.31 million.