Buy Interests in Geregu, Others Drive Customs Street Higher by 0.16%

By Dipo Olowookere

For the fifth straight trading session, Customs Street closed stronger on Wednesday by 0.16 per cent as investors gradually returned to the market after discouraging projections earlier scared them away.

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited witnessed sustained buying interests, especially in the industrial goods sector, offsetting the selling pressure in the banking and consumer goods counters.

Data from the bourse showed that the industrial goods index rose by 1.14 per cent, the insurance counter appreciated by 0.92 per cent, and the energy space grew by 0.32 per cent. However, the banking and consumer goods indices depreciated during the session by 0.93 per cent and 0.39 per cent, respectively.

The renewed appetite for Nigerian equities drove the All-Share Index (ASI) higher by 71.64 points at the close of transactions to 44,859.78 points from 44,788.14 points as the market capitalisation increased by N39 billion to N24.434 trillion from N24.395 trillion.

Business Post reports that despite the growth witnessed in the market yesterday, investor sentiment remained weak as traders are still cautious of the danger lurking around.

This caused the market breadth to finish negative with 19 price losers and 12 price gainers led by the duo of RT Briscoe and Multiverse, which appreciated by 10.00 per cent each to close at 33 Kobo and N4.62, respectively.

University Press rose by 9.15 per cent to N1.79, FTN Cocoa grew by 7.41 per cent to 29 Kobo, and Geregu jumped by 5.45 per cent to N116.00.

On the other hand, Cutix lost 6.51 per cent to close at N2.01, Jaiz Bank declined by 6.19 per cent to 91 Kobo, Dangote Sugar went down by 5.83 per cent to N15.35, Sterling Bank dropped 3.85 per cent to trade at N1.50, and Sovereign Trust Insurance also fell by 3.85 per cent to 25 Kobo.

The most active stock at the NGX in the midweek session was Geregu, which sold 12.8 million units boosted by cross deals, followed by Sterling Bank, which traded 9.5 million units. Access Holdings transacted 6.3 million units, Zenith Bank exchanged 6.3 million units, and Ecobank traded 5.6 million units.

In all, a total of 93.5 million shares valued at N3.4 billion were bought and sold yesterday in 3,187 deals compared with the 159.2 million shares worth N2.7 billion transacted in 3,385 deals on Tuesday, implying an increase in the value of transactions by 23.98 per cent, a decline in the volume of trades by 41.26 per cent, and shortfall in the number of deals by 5.85 per cent.