Trading session on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) finished higher on Tuesday by 0.71 percent with investors still interest in banking stocks.

Business Post reports that it was a roller-coaster trading day today and the market, which was almost halting the four consecutive trading sessions since last Wednesday, experienced a last-minute appreciation to eventually finish in the green zone, extending the rally to five trading sessions.

At the close of trading activities on the floor of the NSE, the benchmark index, All-Share Index (ASI), progressed by 240.5 points to settle at 34,375.60 points, while the market capitalisation added N83.3 billion to finish the day at N11.9 trillion.

However, activity level relaxed as volume and value traded declined respectively to 392 million units and N4.2 billion, all executed in 5,412 deals.

Likewise, investor sentiment, as reflected by the market breadth, ended negative with 27 declining stocks against 25 advancing equities.

Julius Berger, which announced yesterday that it was diversifying into the oil and gas sector, emerged the biggest gainer at the stock market today with N4.4k rise in its share price to close at N43.84k per share.

It was followed by Dangote Cement, which appreciated by N3.97k to end at N213.97k per share, and Nestle, which advanced by N3 to finish at N910 per share.

Nigerian Breweries also rose by the same margin, N3, to settle at N168 per share, while its competitor, International Breweries, progressed by N2.30k to close at N30.65k per share.

However, Forte Oil declined by N2.77k, emerging today market’s heaviest loser to finish at N50.4k per share.

GlaxoSmithKline lost N1.4k to end at N20.55k per share, while Cadbury depreciated by 70k to settle at N14.25k per share.

Furthermore, Zenith Bank went down by 42k to close at N22.8k per share, and Oando sank by 37k to wrap the day at N7.65k per share.

Transcorp emerged the most active stock on Tuesday, accounting for 58.1 million units sold for N102.5 million.

It was closely followed by Zenith Bank, which traded 47.7 million shares worth N1.1 billion, and Skye Bank, which transacted 39.8 million units valued at N32 million.

In addition, First Bank traded 27.6 million shares at N183 million, and Diamond Bank exchanged 27.3 million units at N35.1 million.

With the market trend on Tuesday, Business Post observes that investors might begin to consider embarking on profit taking especially in some stocks, which have appreciated lately.