Buying Pressure on Oando, Transcorp, Others Stretch Gains on NGX by 0.03%

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited had a narrow escape from the bears on Monday as it reported a marginal growth of 0.03 per cent at the close of transactions.

This was influenced by buying activities in Oando, Transcorp, Access Holdings and others, as investors had little time to digest the release of inflation numbers for last month.

The National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said Nigeria’s inflation increased by 22.22 per cent in April 2023 from 22.04 per cent in March 2023.

Oando gained 9.91 per cent to trade at N6.10, NCR Nigeria appreciated by 9.65 per cent to N2.81, Transcorp rose by 9.65 per cent to N2.84, Ikeja Hotel improved by 9.62 per cent to N1.71, and Julius Berger expanded by 8.77 per cent to N31.00.

Conversely, CWG shed 9.66 per cent to N1.87, NEM Insurance depreciated by 9.45 per cent to N4.12, Royal Exchange fell by 7.41 per cent to 50 Kobo, Cutix went down by 4.13 per cent to N2.32, and AIICO Insurance shrank by 3.39 per cent to 57 Kobo.

Business Post reports that the insurance space went down by 1.41 per cent, and the banking counter depreciated by 0.02 per cent, while the consumer goods sector appreciated by 0.03 per cent, the industrial goods index improved by 0.02 per cent, and the energy sector closed flat.

The All-Share Index (ASI) jumped yesterday by 16.67 points to 52,231.29 points from 52,214.62 points, and the market capitalisation grew by N9 billion to N28.440 trillion from N28.431 trillion.

During the trading day, 626.4 million shares worth N5.6 billion were traded in 6,033 deals compared with the 1.4 billion shares worth N11.0 billion transacted in 5,527 deals last Friday, indicating an increase in the number of deals by 9.16 per cent, a decline in the trading volume by 55.81 per cent, and a fall in the trading value by 49.09 per cent.

Transcorp sold 190.9 million shares worth N530.8 million, Access Holdings traded 125.1 million stocks valued at N1.3 billion, FBN Holdings transacted 79.7 million equities worth N956.5 million, UBA exchanged 39.1 million shares for N324.3 million, and Royal Exchange sold 27.9 million equities valued at N14.2 million.