By Dipo Olowookere
The local stock market appreciated by 0.15 per cent on Thursday amid happenings in the nation’s political scene, which is making investors tread carefully, especially with the involvement of the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), Mr Godwin Emefiele, in the 2023 presidential race.
Yesterday, despite profit-taking in the financial services sector, gains posted by some mid and large-cap equities upheld the positive momentum on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
The gainers’ chart was led by Fidson, which improved by 9.95 per cent to settle at N11.38, Eterna grew by 9.94 per cent to N7.19, McNichols appreciated by 9.91 per cent to N1.22, GlaxoSmithKline rose by 9.87 per cent to N8.35, while Lafarge Africa jumped by 9.86 per cent to N31.75.
The losers’ log was topped during the session by Academy Press, which lost 9.73 per cent to finish at N1.67, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance depleted by 9.68 per cent to 56 kobo, Linkage Assurance went down by 8.70 per cent to 63 kobo, Veritas Kapital fell by 4.55 per cent to 21 kobo, while AIICO Insurance dropped 3.80 per cent to finish at 76 kobo.
The insurance and banking counters closed lower on Thursday by 2.36 per cent and 0.86 per cent apiece, while the consumer goods, industrial goods and energy sectors appreciated by 1.37 per cent, 0.71 per cent and 0.46 per cent respectively.
Business Post reports that the buying pressure witnessed during the session influenced the 79.31 points growth in the All-Share Index (ASI) to 52,917.76 points from 52,838.45 points. The market capitalisation also gained N43 billion to close at N28.529 trillion compared with the N28.486 trillion it closed at the midweek session.
However, the activity chart was mixed yesterday with the trading volume and number of deals appreciating by 2.07 per cent and 5.29 per cent respectively, while the trading value depreciated by 22.28 per cent.
A total of 426.0 million stocks worth N5.7 billion were traded on Thursday in 7,639 deals as against the 417.4 million stocks worth N7.3 billion traded in 7,255 deals on Thursday.
Transcorp finished as the most transacted equity at the bourse yesterday as it sold 94.4 million units valued at N122.7 million and was trailed by Zenith Bank with the sale of 24.5 million units worth N590.1 million.
Lafarge Africa transacted 19.2 million shares valued at N602.0 million, Abbey Mortgage Bank traded 18.4 million stocks for N24.4 million, while Access Holdings exchanged 17.0 million equities valued at N163.6 million.
