By Dipo Olowookere
The buying interest in Nigerian stocks continued on Friday and this increased the All-Share Index (ASI) by 0.52 per cent or 213.00 points to 41,176.14 points from 40,963.14 points.
During the session, investors took special interests in equities in the insurance and consumer goods sectors and this expanded the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by N111 billion to N21.530 trillion from N21.419 trillion.
As earlier stated, Business Post reports that bargain hunters pounced on insurance and consumer goods stocks and this caused their respective indices to rise by 4.14 per cent and 1.41 per cent.
Also, the banking counter grew by 0.54 per cent, while the industrial goods index appreciated by 0.08 per cent, with the energy space closing 0.54 per cent lower.
Yesterday, investors transacted 666.6 million stocks worth N6.4 billion in 6,980 deals compared with the 809.4 million equities worth N8.9 billion traded in 6,706 deals, indicating 17.64 per cent decline in the trading volume, 28.18 per cent decline in the trading value and 4.09 per cent rise in the number of deals.
Japaul closed the day as the most traded stock, selling 115.8 million units worth N174.9 million. Access Bank traded 48.0 million shares for N461.7 million, Mutual Benefits Assurance exchanged 42.6 million equities for N17.9 million, GTBank sold 38.6 million stocks valued at N1.3 billion, while UBA traded 37.3 million shares valued at N341.9 million.
On the price movement table, Flour Mills topped the gainers’ chart with a price appreciation of N2.80 to finish at N32.80 per unit.
Presco gained N2 to close at N74 per share, MTN Nigeria rose by N2 to settle at N170 per unit, Nigerian Breweries grew by N1.95 to sell at N60 per share, while UAC Nigeria appreciated by 75 kobo to close at N8.25 per unit.
Conversely, Ardova topped the losers’ table with a price depreciation of N2.15 to close at N19.70 per share, May & Baker lost 22 kobo to settle at N3.63 per share, Zenith Bank declined by 10 kobo to quote at N26.30 per unit, Unilever Nigeria fell by 5 kobo to close at N13.45 per unit, while Sterling Bank declined by 4 kobo to trade at N2 per share.
