By Dipo Olowookere
It was a comeback for the bulls on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday for the first time this week.
The market appreciated marginally yesterday by 0.06 per cent following some bargain hunting activities mostly on banking equities trading at low prices.
However, it is not certain how long the bulls will reign on the market before the bears make another attack again to take their place.
At the midweek session, the volume of transactions closed flat with 208.2 million units of shares, while the value increased by 66.37 per cent to N1.8 billion from N1.1 billion, with the number of deals down by 12.60 per cent to 3,648 deals compared with the previous day’s 4,174 deals.
Despite the growth printed yesterday, the market breadth remained negative as there were 15 price losers and 11 price gainers at the close of business.
Airtel Africa was the best price riser, appreciating by N11.30 to close at N340 per unit, while Dangote Sugar improved by 60 kobo to quote at N12.20 per share.
GTBank recorded a price gain of 20 kobo to sell at N21.50 per share, Cutix garnered 13 kobo to swell to N1.82 per unit, while Access Bank rose by 5 kobo to N6.15 per unit.
On the losers’ end, Nigerian Breweries claimed the first spot after losing N3.35 to trade at N30.70 per share and was followed by Julius Berger, which lost N1.70 to sell at N15.50 per share.
Stanbic IBTC depreciated by N1.25 to finish at N29 per unit, PZ Cussons depleted by 15 kobo to N4.35 per share, while Caverton went down by 12 kobo to sell at N1.83 per unit.
Business Post reports that investors mopped up a few value stocks in the banking sector yesterday, leading to the 0.37 per cent rise in its index at the close of transactions.
The industrial goods index increased marginally during the session by 0.01 per cent, while the energy counter closed flat, with the consumer goods and insurance sectors losing 1.39 per cent and 0.89 per cent respectively.
For the benchmark index, the All-Share Index (ASI), increased by 15.67 points to 24,130.26 points from 24,114.59 points, while the market capitalisation expanded by N8 billion to N12.588 trillion from N12.580 trillion.
