By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited had a smooth ride to the green territory on Monday courtesy of buying interest in Airtel Africa, ABC Transport and others.
The telecommunication company informed the stock market yesterday that its Nigerian subsidiary, Airtel Networks Limited, has acquired 4G and 5G spectrums for $316.7 million.
Investors saw the gains the company would have from rolling out the 5G network in Nigeria, its biggest market, and quickly booked a place for a bite of the cake.
This sprung the bourse higher by 0.92 per cent at the close of business, especially when ABC Transport also enjoyed the patronage of traders during the session.
Business Post observed that the gains by these stocks helped the bourse maintain its upward trajectory despite heavy sell-offs in the financial services sector.
The banking index shed 1.31 per cent on Monday as the insurance counter depreciated by 0.70 per cent. But the 0.19 per cent improvement in the consumer goods sector and the flattish outcome in the energy and industrial goods sectors held the market strong amid a strong investor sentiment.
At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 478.02 points to 51,700.36 points from 51,222.34 points, and the market capitalisation grew by N261 billion to N28.160 trillion from N27.899 trillion.
Thomas Wyatt continues its strong performance as it gained 9.28 per cent during the session to close at N1.06, ABC Transport improved by 8.00 per cent to 27 Kobo, Royal Exchange rose by 5.88 per cent to N1.08, Airtel Africa increased its value by 5.16 per cent to N1,630.00, and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance appreciated by 5.00 per cent to 63 Kobo.
Conversely, Union Bank recorded an 8.63 per cent fall to trade at N6.35, Wema Bank went down by 8.21 per cent to N3.58, AIICO Insurance dropped 6.25 per cent to 60 Kobo, Caverton fell by 4.95 per cent to 96 Kobo, and Stanbic IBTC declined by 4.33 per cent to N32.00.
As earlier stated, banking stocks came under selling pressure yesterday, with Sterling Bank trading 85.2 million units and UBA transacting 21.6 million units. FBN Holdings sold 20.1 million units, Access Holdings exchanged 10.3 million, and Zenith Bank traded 8.3 million units.
A total of 229.2 million equities worth N2.9 billion exchanged hands in 3,900 deals on Monday as against the 195.7 million equities worth N7.5 billion transacted in 3,650 deals last Friday, indicating an improvement in the trading volume and the number of deals by 17.12 per cent and 6.85 per cent, respectively, and a decline in the trading value by 61.33 per cent.
Adedapo Adesanya