Nigeria's stocks in 2-day consecutive rally

Nigerian stocks closed higher on Thursday for the second consecutive day, lifted by shares in banking, cement and food firms.
Nigeria's all-share index which has the second-biggest weighting after Kuwait on the MSCI frontier market index, rose 1.5 percent to 23,686 points, its highest level in a week.
The market fell to its lowest level in 3-1/2 years on Monday as stock markets around the world suffered due to declining oil prices and concerns over China's economy. Nigeria's central bank reduced dollar sales to foreign investors exiting the market, raising fears this would impact the naira.
The dramatic recovery of the local bourse was attributed to activities of bargain hunter taking positions on the oversold market.
"Attractive valuations from well beaten stocks seem to have driven up the equity play by investors... value stocks are getting more attractive with prices at historically low levels.," said United Capital in its research note.
The index of Nigeria's top 10 banks rose 0.55 percent to lift the index.
The biggest beneficiary of the market recovery was First Bank FBN Holdings, which gained 10.25 percent. The stock also gained 10.19 percent on Wednesday.
Other gainers include Nigerian Breweries, which rose 8 percent, Union Bank up 9.9 percent, Nestle gained 4.98 percent, Zenith Bank was up 4.6 percent, while Dangote, which accounts for a third of the market capitalisation, rose marginally by 0.1 percent.