By Dipo Olowookere
It was another upward movement for Nigerian stocks on Thursday as they closed higher by 0.81 per cent amid sustained buying pressure.
Investors paid particular interest in downstream and financial equities at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session, resulting in the energy index rising by 2.36 per cent.
The banking space rose by 1.60 per cent, the insurance counter appreciated by 1.38 per cent, the industrial goods sector improved by 0.93 per cent, and the consumer goods industry moved up by 0.22 per cent.
This jerked the All-Share Index (ASI) forward by 496.31 points to 62,019.88 points from 61,523.57 points and accelerated the market capitalisation by N270 billion to N33.770 trillion from N33.500 trillion.
Conoil, MRS Oil, Eterna, Learn Africa, and Union Bank gained 10.00 per cent each yesterday to quote at N102.30, N91.30, N25.85, N3.52, and N8.25 apiece.
Conversely, Coronation Insurance shed 9.59 per cent to close at 66 Kobo, UPDC depreciated by 9.24 per cent to N1.08, International Energy Insurance shrank by 9.09 per cent to N1.30, Chellarams lost 8.90 per cent to finish at N1.33, and Honeywell Flour declined by 7.46 per cent to N3.35.
Business Post reports that 54 stocks were on the gainers’ chart at the close of business, while 18 equities were on the losers’ log, representing a positive market breadth and a very strong investor sentiment.
The bourse was very busy on Thursday as it closed with the sale of 5.4 billion shares valued at N95.0 billion in 9,948 deals compared with the 846.3 million shares worth N10.3 billion traded in 9,815 deals on Wednesday, indicating an increase in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 543.23 per cent, 822.33 per cent, and 1.36 per cent, respectively.
FBN Holdings traded 4.7 billion stocks worth N87.8 billion, FCMB exchanged 126.8 million equities valued at N744.1 million, Access Holdings transacted 56.5 million shares valued at N1.0 billion, Japaul sold 55.3 million stocks worth N55.8 million, and Transcorp transacted 49.2 million shares for N185.8 million.
