Lafarge, BUA Cement, Others Harden Bulls’ Grip on Stock Market by 0.20%

By Dipo Olowookere

The bulls cemented their dominance on the local stock market on Tuesday with a further 0.20 per cent appreciation buoyed by gains in the share prices of Lafarge Africa, BUA Cement, Honeywell Flour and 13 others.

The improvement in the share prices of the cement stocks raised the industrial goods sector by 1.21 per cent at the close of transactions, with the insurance counter appreciating by 0.17 per cent. The consumer goods space grew by 0.14 per cent, the banking index expanded by 0.03 per cent, while the energy sector fell by 0.38 per cent.

When the trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closed for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 96.46 points to settle at 48,366.69 points versus 48,270.23 points of the preceding day, while the market capitalisation increased by N52 billion to N26.344 trillion from N26.292 trillion.

Business Post reports that the activity chart was in red yesterday as the trading volume, value and number of deals depreciated by 71.37 per cent, 14.76 per cent, and 8.52 per cent apiece.

This was because investors exchanged 184.7 million shares worth N3.6 billion in 3,189 deals against the 645.0 million shares worth N4.2 billion traded in 3,486 deals in the prior trading session.

The most active stock on Tuesday was FBN Holdings for trading 66.1 million units, followed by Transcorp, which transacted 36.6 million units. Geregu exchanged 17.5 million stocks, Access Holdings traded 7.4 million equities, and RT Briscoe sold 5.6 million shares.

Honeywell Flour topped the gainers’ table yesterday after it gained 8.06 per cent to finish at N2.28, Champion Breweries rose by 7.14 per cent to N3.75, Ecobank appreciated by 4.98 per cent to N10.55, Lasaco Assurance grew by 4.71 per cent to 89 Kobo, and RT Briscoe improved by 4.00 per cent to 26 Kobo.

On the flip side, UPDC topped the chart of 13 price losers after it went down by 7.07 per cent to finish at 92 Kobo and was followed by Wema Bank, which dropped 6.12 per cent to N3.22. FTN Cocoa lost 3.33 per cent to trade at 29 Kobo, Coronation Insurance fell by 2.63 per cent to 37 Kobo, and Oando declined by 2.50 per cent to N3.90.