Bargain Hunters Buoy N134bn Gain at Stock Market

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) rebounded by 1.04 per cent on Wednesday after bargain hunters took over the market during the session.

This lifted the market capitalisation by N134 billion to N13.115 trillion from N12.981 trillion and pushed the All-Share Index (ASI) higher by 257.78 points to 25,141.48 points from 24,883.70 points.

The gains at the midweek trading session were spurred by the energy sector, which rose by 5.24 per cent, the insurance space, which appreciated by 0.64 per cent, and the consumer goods index, which grew by 0.19 per cent.

The banking space depreciated yesterday by 0.36 per cent, while the industrial goods counter declined by 0.26 per cent.

On the price movement chart, Seplat led the gainers’ group after adding N35 to its share price to finish for the day at N385 per unit.

Airtel Africa appreciated by N32 to close at N380 per unit, Presco rose by N3.50 to settle at N51.50 per share, Okomu Oil appreciated by N3 to end at N80 per share, while Guinness Nigeria gained 90 kobo to settle at N15.40 per unit.

On the losers’ table, BUA Cement claimed the first spot after depreciating by 25 kobo to close at N38.70 per share and was followed by Access Bank, which lost 15 kobo to trade at N6.40 per share.

Zenith Bank declined by 10 kobo to finish at N16.75 per share, Champion Breweries decreased by 8 kobo to 78 kobo per unit, while Lafarge Africa went down by 5 kobo to N11.90 per share.

Business Post reports that GTBank buoyed trading activities on Wednesday, with investors transacting 66.3 million units of the stock for N1.7 billion.

Access Bank sold 24.0 million shares for N155.8 million, Zenith Bank traded 15.2 million stocks worth N255.3 million, FBN Holdings exchanged 14.0 million equities valued at N70.6 million, while Sterling Bank traded 13.2 million shares for N15.7 million.

At the close of transactions, a total of 204.9 million stocks worth N3.8 billion exchanged hands in 3,636 deals compared with the 206.6 million shares worth N2.5 billion traded in 3,925 deals on Tuesday.