By Dipo Olowookere
After 10 consecutive days of sell-offs, especially by the foreign portfolio investors, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) got back to the green territory on Friday.
This was as a result of activities of bargain hunters at the market, who ensured that the last trading day of this week ended positive.
Though the stock market fell by 0.51 percent this week, the local bourse recorded a growth of 1.87 percent yesterday, reducing the year-to-date returns to -7.78 percent.
Gains recorded by Dangote Cement and 14 other counters were enough to lift the market on Friday despite the price depreciation recorded by 24 equities trading at the Nigerian stock market.
At the close of transactions yesterday, N14 was added to the share price of Dangote Cement to settle at N220 per share.
Unilever Nigeria, which followed Dangote Cement on the price gainers’ chart, increased by N2 to finish at N55 per share, while Newrest ASL Nigeria grew by 40 kobo to close at N4.45k per share.
Cutix appreciated on Friday by 10 kobo to end at N4.18k per share, while Forte Oil went up by 15 kobo to settle at N23.15k per share.
Conversely, Dangote Sugar recorded the highest price fall yesterday after losing 30 kobo to close at N14.80k per share.
NAHCO depreciated by 26 kobo to end at N3.73k per share, while Union Bank of Nigeria went down by 15 kobo to settle at N5.55k per share.
Eterna Oil declined by 10 kobo to close at N6.30k per share, while Zenith Bank also depreciated by 10 kobo to finish at N22.85k per share.
Business Post reports that financial stocks dominated trading on Friday, accounting for 315.2 million units worth N1.9 billion, while consumer goods stocks followed with 23.7 million units exchanged for N437 million.
A further breakdown indicated that NEM Insurance topped the activity chart by volume, selling 130.5 million units of stocks for N521.4 million.
Axa Mansard traded 94.5 million shares valued at N241 million, while Transcorp sold 17.4 million shares worth N19.6 million.
Zenith Bank exchanged 15.9 million equities for N363.3 million, while Champion Breweries transacted 10.2 million shares for N17.4 million.
In all, the total volume of shares traded at the market on Friday increased by 57.40 percent from 237.8 million to 374.3 million, while the total value went down by 11.93 percent from N3.1 billion to N2.7 billion.
Looking at the major market indicators, it was observed that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased on Friday by 649.17 points to settle at 35,266.29 points, while the market capitalisation jumped by N236 billion to close at N12.875 trillion.
Investors will hope that Friday’s momentum is sustained when the market return on Monday for business ahead of the two-day public holiday declared for Tuesday and Wednesday for Eid-el-Kabir.
Adedapo Adesanya