Bulls Tighten Grip on Stock Market as Investors Mop Up Access Holdings,

By Dipo Olowookere

The local stock market further appreciated by 0.35 per cent on Thursday as the bulls consolidated their dominance of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited after losing their place to the bears for a long time.

Business Post reports that investor sentiment was strong during the session, as there were 28 price gainers and 16 price losers, representing a positive market breadth.

The positive performance of Access Holdings in the 2022 financial year triggered a buy pressure on its stocks yesterday, resulting in its value rising by 10.00 per cent to N9.90. Transcorp Hotels also appreciated by 10.00 per cent to N7.15, Transcorp grew by 9.87 per cent to N2.45, Fidelity Bank expanded by 9.85 per cent to N5.80, and FCMB increased by 9.80 per cent to N3.81.

On the flip side, Champion Breweries lost 9.96 per cent to sell at N4.43, Jaiz Bank fell by 8.42 per cent to 87 Kobo, Cutix depreciated by 4.35 per cent to N2.20, Caverton depleted by 2.91 per cent to N1.00, and Eterna went down by 2.52 per cent to N5.80.

The energy sector depreciated on Thursday by 0.22 per cent, the industrial goods counter fell by 0.09 per cent, and the consumer goods space went down by 0.02 per cent.

However, the banking sector appreciated by 2.90 per cent, and the insurance sector moved up by 2.07 per cent at the close of business.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 177.33 points to 51,355.74 points from 51,178.41 points as the market capitalisation went up by N92 billion to settle at N27.963 trillion versus Wednesday’s N27.871 trillion.

On Thursday, which is the last trading session for this week due to the public holiday today for Eid al-Fitr, investors transacted 600.8 million shares valued at N5.1 billion in 4,309 deals compared with the 1.3 billion shares worth N4.0 billion traded in 3,505 deals in the midweek session, indicating a decline in the trading volume by 52.79 per cent, and an increase in the trading value and the number of deals by 25.50 per cent and 22.94 per cent, respectively.

Transcorp topped the activity chart with the sale of 240.6 million stocks worth N589.4 million, Access Holdings traded 152.1 million equities worth N1.5 billion, UBA exchanged 39.2 million shares worth N308.7 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 22.4 million shares valued at N125.5 million, and Zenith Bank sold 18.1 million stocks for N397.3 million.