By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.07 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday as traders rebalanced their portfolios, picking up equities with the possibility of appreciating in price in the short and medium term.
This boosted the value of Customs Street during the session by N27 billion as the market capitalisation closed at N39.075 trillion compared with Wednesday’s closing value of N39.048 trillion.
In the same vein, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased at the close of business by 48.87 points to settle at 71,052.85 points, in contrast to the midweek session’s 71,003.98 points.
Analysis of the sectorial performance showed that the consumer goods space lost 0.05 per cent due to mild profit-taking in Cadbury Nigeria and Unilever Nigeria.
However, bargain-hunting activities raised the insurance, industrial goods and banking sectors by 1.27 per cent, 0.04 per cent, and 0.03 per cent, respectively, while the energy index remained unchanged.
Investor sentiment remained bullish yesterday as the bourse finished with 39 price advancers and 19 price laggards, representing a positive market breadth index.
Beta Glass closed the session as the biggest price gainer, chalking up 10.00 per cent to trade at N59.40. Multiverse grew by 9.98 per cent to N5.29, MeCure rose by 9.97 per cent to N8.38, Enamelware also improved by 9.97 per cent to N19.30, and Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank expanded by 9.84 per cent to N1.34.
Conversely, Ellah Lakes lost 9.89 per cent to quote at N3.37, Omatek declined by 9.17 per cent to 99 Kobo, Academy Press fell by 5.56 per cent to N1.70, McNichols dropped 5.56 per cent to finish at 85 Kobo, and NPF Microfinance Bank depreciated by 4.11 per cent to N2.10.
On the activity chart, Universal Insurance was on top after it transacted 164.3 million shares valued at N42.0 million, Veritas Kapital sold 77.1 million stocks for N30.5 million, Unity Bank traded 24.0 million equities worth N40.4 million, Chams exchanged 20.8 million shares valued at N46.2 million, and Zenith Bank traded 20.7 million equities worth N694.2 million.
At the close of trades for the day, investors bought and sold 563.7 million stocks worth N3.4 billion in 6,579 deals versus the 428.4 million stocks worth N7.4 billion traded in 6,677 deals a day earlier, implying an increase in the trading volume by 31.58 per cent, a decline in the trading value by 54.05 per cent, and a slump in the number of deals by 1.47 per cent.
Adedapo Adesanya