By Dipo Olowookere
The appetite investors showed in value stocks on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday lifted the market by 0.21 per cent.
Equities in the banking, energy and consumer goods sectors particularly enjoyed investors’ patronage during the session and this improved their respective indices by 1.11 per cent, 2.00 per cent and 0.05 per cent.
The gains printed by the above counters suppressed the 1.07 per cent and 0.12 per cent losses reported by the insurance and industrial goods sectors respectively.
At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 84.02 points to 39,198.75 points from 39,114.73 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N39 billion to N20.431 trillion from N20.470 trillion.
Business Post reports that Linkage Assurance topped the gainers’ chart on Friday with a price appreciation of 9.52 per cent to finish at 69 kobo.
John Holt gained 9.26 per cent to close at 59 kobo, Union Bank gained 9.09 per cent to sell for N5.40, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance appreciated by 8.33 per cent to 39 kobo, while Royal Exchange appreciated by 8.33 per cent to trade at 65 kobo.
At the losers’ end, NEM Insurance climbed the highest point with a decline of 9.09 per cent to close at N1.81 and was trailed by Courtville, which lost 9.09 per cent to quote at 20 kobo.
Sunu Assurances depreciated by 8.47 per cent to 54 kobo, the Initiates dropped 6.98 per cent to 40 kobo, while Eterna fell by 6.89 per cent to N5.81.
At the market yesterday, a total of 238.9 million shares valued at N3.0 billion were traded in 3,947 deals in contrast to the 403.5 million shares worth N4.8 billion transacted in 4,342 deals the preceding day.
The most traded stock was Access Bank as it sold 40.5 million units worth N328.0 million, while FBN Holdings trailed with 33.7 million units worth N244.2 million.
Zenith Bank exchanged 25.5 million shares for N562.2 million, UBA transacted 13.6 million equities valued at N98.1 million, while GTBank traded 11.9 million shares for N347.9 million.
