Buying Activity in Cadbury, Access Holdings Drives NGX’s 0.32% Rise

By Dipo Olowookere

The bulls maintained control of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday, driven by buying activity in Access Holdings, Cadbury Nigeria and others, which left the market higher by 0.32 per cent at the close of transactions.

The consumer goods index closed higher by 2.90 per cent, the banking space appreciated by 0.94 per cent, the insurance sector improved by 0.59 per cent, and the industrial goods counter went up by 0.01 per cent, while the energy sector depreciated by 0.17 per cent due to selling pressure on Oando.

When the closing gong was struck, the All-Share Index (ASI) expanded by 167.63 points to 52,403.51 points from 52,235.88 points, and the market capitalisation increased by N91 billion to N28.534 trillion from N28.443 trillion.

The mopping up of Transcorp shares continued yesterday as the company finished on top of the activity chart with the sale of 2.7 billion units valued at N8.5 billion, Access Holdings traded 92.8 million units valued at N817.2 million, Fidelity Bank traded 54.7 million units worth N291.5 million, UBA transacted 43.8 million units worth N344.3 million, and Chams exchanged 32.1 million units valued at N9.0 million.

A total of 3.1 billion shares worth N13.1 billion exchanged hands in 5,573 deals during the session versus the 2.3 billion shares worth N17.6 billion traded in 6,958 deals a day earlier, indicating an increase in the trading volume by 34.78 per cent, a decline in the trading value by 25.57 per cent and a shrink in the number of deals by 19.91 per cent.

Business Post reports that investor sentiment was weak on Friday despite the bullish outcome, as the market ended with 27 price losers and 24 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth.

Sovereign Trust Insurance closed the session as the best-performing stock after it gained 10.00 per cent to sell at 33 Kobo, Berger Paints improved by 9.86 per cent to N7.80, Cadbury Nigeria appreciated by 9.76 per cent to N13.50, CWG went up by 9.38 per cent to N1.05, and Fidelity Bank pushed up by 9.04 per cent to N5.67.

Conversely, Cutix was the worst-performing stock after it dropped 10.00 per cent to finish at N2.25, Transcorp shed 9.94 per cent to N2.81, Champion Breweries depleted by 9.71 per cent to N4.37, Royal Exchange crashed by 9.68 per cent to 56 Kobo, and Livestock Feeds fell by 9.57 per cent to N1.04.