The Nigerian Exchange Limited extended its bullish momentum on Tuesday as the All-Share Index rose by 0.5 per cent to close at 144,796.37 points, driven by price appreciation in key large-cap stocks.

The market capitalisation also advanced by N459bn to settle at N91.61tn, reflecting sustained investor interest across major sectors.

A total of 1.03bn shares valued at N22.8bn were traded in 13,625 deals, indicating a 27 per cent increase in volume and a 17 per cent uptick in value compared to the previous session.

 BUA Cement led the gainers’ chart with an N6.60 gain to close at N132.10 per share. It was followed by Enamelware, which rose by N5.20 to close at N57.30, while Neimeth gained N0.17 to close at N1.92.

Cornerstone Insurance appreciated by N0.17 to close at N1.89, and Guinea Insurance added N0.07 to close at N0.78 per share.

On the losers’ end, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank recorded the highest decline, shedding N0.20 to close at N2.15 per share. UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust followed with a loss of N0.35 to close at N3.15, while Academy Press dipped by N0.23 to close at N2.10.

John Holt fell by N0.35 to close at N3.31, and Tantalizers dropped by N0.05 to settle at N0.51 per share.

AIICO Insurance emerged as the most actively traded stock by volume with 97.1m shares exchanged, followed by GTCO with 76.2m shares. Japaul Gold traded 66.7m shares, Veritas Kapital Assurance had 53.4m shares, and UBA recorded 45.7m shares.

By value, GTCO topped the chart with N3.8bn worth of shares traded, followed by BUA Cement at N2.7bn and UBA at N1.2bn.

Sectoral performance was largely positive, with the NGX Insurance Index leading the pack, up by 7.53 per cent, followed by the NGX Industrial Index, which rose by 3.35 per cent.

However, the NGX Pension Index closed in the red, down by 0.24 per cent, despite maintaining a year-to-date gain of 53.34 per cent.