Ardova, Others Lift Stock Market by 0.19%

By Dipo Olowookere

Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a positive note on Friday with a 0.19 per cent growth, reversing the previous day’s decline.

It was observed that the stock market appreciated during the session as a result of a renewed buying pressure on some stocks investors believe could record price appreciation in the coming days.

Data from the exchange showed that investor sentiment was strongly positive yesterday, though the market was marred by low trading activity.

A total of 154.2 million shares worth N1.8 billion exchanged hands in 4,515 deals on Friday compared with the 244.0 million shares worth N2.4 billion transacted in 4,710 deals on Thursday, indicating a decline in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 36.85 per cent, 25.34 per cent and 4.14 per cent respectively.

Fidelity Bank closed as the most traded stock yesterday, selling 20.2 million units valued at N71.9 million, followed by Zenith Bank with 12.0 million units worth N274.0 million. UBA transacted 11.6 million shares for N90.7 million, Transcorp exchanged 11.2 million stocks valued at N11.0 million, while NGX Group sold 10.2 million equities for N243.1 million.

Business Post reports that, unlike the previous session, the growth was spread across the five major sectors of the exchange with the energy index rising by 0.83 per cent. The banking counter appreciated by 0.75 per cent, the insurance counter improved by 0.64 per cent, the consumer goods sector expanded by 0.20 per cent while its industrial goods cousin gained 0.06 per cent.

As for the benchmark All-Share Index (ASI), it increased by 87.95 points on Friday to settle at 46,631.46 points compared with the previous day’s 46,543.51 points, while the market capitalisation gained N48 billion to close at N25.140 trillion as against Thursday’s N25.092 trillion.

The market breadth was positive yesterday with 16 price losers and 28 price gainers led by Ardova, which added 9.87 per cent to its share price to close at N12.80. Meyer grew by 9.71 per cent to N1.13, Jaiz Bank appreciated by 7.81 per cent to 69 kobo, FCMB expanded by 7.17 per cent to N3.44, while RT Briscoe gained 7.14 per cent to sell for 60 kobo.

Sitting comfortably on top of the losers’ table yesterday was Royal Exchange with a price depreciation of 9.52 per cent to settle at 95 kobo. CWG lost 9.26 per cent to trade at 98 kobo, Caverton went down by 7.35 per cent to N1.26, Chams fell by 4.76 per cent to 20 kobo, while Multiverse dropped 4.35 per cent to close at 22 kobo.