Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further closed bullish on Thursday by 0.55 per cent as investors renewed their confidence in the local stock market.
The growth posted yesterday was influenced by the demand for equities with strong fundamentals across the key sectors of the bourse and this resulted in the 5.17 per cent rise posted by the energy space.
The insurance sector appreciated by 1.13 per cent, the banking counter improved by 0.86 per cent, the consumer goods index rose by 0.67 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
When the market closed for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 266.01 points to settle at 48,837.76 points compared with the preceding day’s 48,571.75 points, while the market capitalisation chalked up N143 billion to end at N26.329 trillion in contrast to N26.186 trillion it finished on Wednesday.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment was strong yesterday as the market breadth closed positive with 34 price gainers and 17 price losers.
Multiverse and Cadbury Nigeria were the highest price risers as they gained 10.00 per cent each to trade at 22 kobo and N9.35 respectively. Trans-Nationwide Express rose by 9.88 per cent to 89 kobo, CAP appreciated by 9.77 per cent to N21.90, while Seplat grew by 9.09 per cent to N1200.00.
Conversely, Champion Breweries was the highest price loser as its value went down by 6.88 per cent to N2.30, FTN Cocoa dropped 5.13 per cent to sell at 37 kobo, Linkage Assurance depreciated by 3.92 per cent to 49 kobo, Courteville fell by 3.77 per cent to 51 kobo, while Fidelity Bank declined by 3.47 per cent to N3.62.
On the activity chart, FCMB witnessed a significant trade on Thursday and it was mainly a cross deal of about half a billion. The stock recorded the sale of 504.0 million units valued at N1.8 billion. Transcorp transacted 36.2 million shares for N41.9 million, Honeywell Flour exchanged 25.1 million equities for N92.8 million, FBN Holdings traded 17.0 million shares worth N201.8 million, while AIICO Insurance sold 16.6 million shares valued at N12.5 million.
In all, a total of 759.7 million stocks worth N5.5 billion were traded in 5,032 deals yesterday compared with the 246.7 million stocks worth N2.3 billion traded in 5,033 deals at the midweek session, representing a 0.02 per cent decline in the number of deals and increase in the trading volume and value by 207.92 per cent and 138.55 per cent respectively.
