Bulls Tighten Grip on Local Bourse as Investors’ Portfolios Swell by N51bn

By Dipo Olowookere

Trading activities at Customs Street closed bullish on Tuesday on the back of fresh buying pressure on domestic stocks triggered by the gradual convergence of the exchange rates in the official market and the black market.

On Monday, the rate in the official market was higher than the parallel market, a development which gave investors confidence that the floating of the Naira by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) was real.

This inspired them to pump funds into equities yesterday, resulting in the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closing higher by 0.16 per cent at the close of business.

Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) improved during the session by 93.90 points to 59,110.02 points from 59,016.12 points, as the market capitalisation increased by N51 billion to N32.186 trillion from N32.135 trillion.

The major sectors of the local bourse were wearing green apparel on Tuesday as a result of the renewed bargain-hunting, with the insurance countering growing by 1.85 per cent.

The energy sector improved by 1.41 per cent, the industrial goods index grew by 0.10 per cent, the consumer goods space went up by 0.06 per cent, and the banking index jumped by 0.02 per cent.

The market breadth index reflected the mood of the stock exchange yesterday as it was positive after 50 equities ended on the gainers’ table and 19 shares finished on the losers’ log, representing a strong investor sentiment.

The quartet of Academy Press, Guinea Insurance, SAHCO, and Chams appreciated by 10.00 per cent each to N1.98, 22 Kobo, N7.70, and 44 Kobo apiece, while Learn Africa chalked up 9.92 per cent to sell at N2.66.

On the flip side, C&I Leasing depreciated by 10.00 per cent to trade at N4.05, Cornerstone Insurance went down by 9.82 per cent to N1.01, Secure Electronic fell by 8.70 per cent to 42 Kobo, Veritas Kapital declined by 8.70 per cent to 21 Kobo, and RT Briscoe shed 8.11 per cent to 34 Kobo.

It was observed that the activity chart was in red on Tuesday due to the decline in the trading volume, value, and the number of deals by 34.05 per cent, 19.64 per cent, and 10.80 per cent apiece.

This was because traders transacted 588.9 million shares valued at N9.0 billion in 8,272 deals, in contrast to the 893.0 million shares valued at N11.2 billion traded in 9,274 deals on Monday.

UBA ended the session as the most traded stock after transacting 78.5 million units worth N907.5 million, GTCO exchanged 65.4 million units valued at N2.1 billion, Transcorp traded 33.7 million units worth N112.0 million, Access Holdings sold 31.4 million units for N466.6 million, and Veritas Kapital traded 27.8 million units valued at N6.1 million.