Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed buying interest in financial stocks by investors marginally increased the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.01 per cent on Monday.
However, the banking sub-sector of the financial services sector of the market witnessed a mixture of sell-offs and bargain hunting but in the end, the selling pressure conquered, causing the index to decline by 0.37 per cent.
But the other counters closed positive with insurance rising by 1.18 per cent, energy growing by 0.29 per cent, consumer goods rising by 0.10 per cent and industrial goods appreciating by 0.01 per cent.
When trading activities were halted for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 5.47 points to 37,952.65 points from 37,947.18 points, while the market capitalisation rose by N3 billion to N19.774 trillion from N19.771 trillion.
Business Post reports that Jaiz Bank was the most traded stock on Monday with the sale of 217.1 million units valued at N116.6 million.
Sterling Bank traded 78.2 million shares valued at N119.6 million, Wema Bank exchanged 19.2 million stocks for N15.8 million, Sovereign Trust Insurance transacted 15.0 million equities valued at N4.5 million, while Universal Insurance traded 12.8 million shares for N2.6 million.
In all, a total of 462.8 million stocks worth N1.2 billion exchanged hands in 3,610 deals on Monday compared with the 266.7 million stocks worth N3.0 billion transacted in 3,065 deals last Friday, signifying that the trading volume rose by 73.50 per cent, the trading value went down by 60.59 per cent and the number of deals increased by 17.78 per cent.
On the price movement chart, Eterna topped the gainers’ table of 22 stocks with a price appreciation of 10.00 per cent to sell for N7.15 and was trailed by University Press, which gained 9.93 per cent to trade at N1.55.
Cutix appreciated by 9.92 per cent on Monday to N3.99, Regency Alliance gained 8.89 per cent to quote at 49 kobo, while Learn Africa rose by 8.76 per cent to N1.49.
However, FTN Cocoa landed on top of the losers’ log of 10 stocks at the close of transactions yesterday after its equity price went down by 7.32 per cent to finish at 38 kobo.
Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 6.06 per cent to 31 kobo, Ecobank declined by 3.77 per cent to N5.10, Sterling Bank lost 3.21 per cent to quote at N1.51, while Union Bank fell by 2.68 per cent to N5.45.
