By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further grew by 1.61 per cent on Monday, pushing the All-Share Index (ASI) closer to the 62,000-point threshold.
It was observed that bargain-hunting persisted during the session, especially in the financial sector, with tier-1 lenders being the toast of investors.
This year, the local bourse has gained 20.87 per cent, and this was raised to the level after the benchmark index increased yesterday by 980.97 points to 61,949.24 points from last Friday’s 60,968.27 points.
Similarly, the market capitalisation, which measures the total value of stocks on the exchange, jumped by N534 billion to N33.732 trillion from N33.198 trillion.
The activity chart was mixed during the session, as the value of transactions went down by 12.50 per cent to N14.0 billion from N16.0 billion.
However, the volume of transactions increased by 20.78 per cent to 1.2 billion units from 998.1 million units, and the number of trades surged by 14.63 per cent to 12,128 deals from 10,580 deals.
The most traded stock on Monday was FCMB, which exchanged 173.8 million units valued at N930.7 million, followed by UBA, which sold 160.7 million units worth N2.1 billion.
Access Holdings transacted 132.5 million units worth N2.4 billion, Jaiz Bank traded 80.6 million units for N138.4 million, and Transcorp sold 75.0 million units valued at N285.3 million.
Like the previous trading session, investor sentiment was strong due to the positive market breadth index, which printed 67 price gainers and 14 price losers.
The quintet of Fidelity Bank, Japaul, Eterna, Linkage Assurance, and University Press chalked up 10.00 per cent each during the session to close at N7.70, 77 Kobo, N23.10, 77 Kobo, and N2.75 apiece.
However, Tripple Gee shed 9.87 per cent to close at N3.38, Cornerstone Insurance declined by 9.09 per cent to N1.00, Secure Electronic Technology shrank by 9.09 per cent to 30 Kobo, ABC Transport decreased by 6.82 per cent to 41 Kobo, and Julius Berger lost 3.23 per cent to quote at N30.00.
Business Post reports that the sectorial performance was bullish yesterday, with the banking space growing by 6.78 per cent. The insurance counter expanded by 1.84 per cent, the energy index improved by 1.50 per cent, the industrial goods counter climbed higher by 1.31 per cent, and the consumer goods sector appreciated by 0.52 per cent.
Adedapo Adesanya