By Dipo Olowookere
Trading activities on Customs Street, Lagos on Monday closed bullish with a leap of 0.51 per cent on the back of a renewed investors’ confidence, raising the All-Share Index (ASI) higher by 236.49 points to 46,867.95 points from 46,631.46 points.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited appreciated by N127 billion at the close of transactions to N25.267 trillion from N25.140 trillion.
A renewed interest in local equities resulted in the market breadth closing positive yesterday, with investor sentiment also strong as there were 32 price gainers and 13 price losers.
NAHCO ended the session as the highest price riser with its value growing by 10.00 per cent to N5.50, followed by UACN, which rose by 9.90 per cent to N11.10. Meyer gained 9.73 per cent to sell for N1.24, Royal Exchange appreciated by 9.47 per cent to N1.04, while Learn Africa improved by 9.25 per cent to N1.89.
On the flip side, Academy Press ended the day as the heaviest price loser after falling by 9.60 per cent to N1.60, followed by Mutual Benefits Assurance, which dropped 7.69 per cent to trade at 24 kobo. Japaul fell by 5.88 per cent to 32 kobo, Multiverse declined by 4.55 per cent to 21 kobo, while Prestige Assurance decreased by 4.44 per cent to 43 kobo.
During the session, GTCO was the busiest stock, trading 43.3 million units worth N994.3 million, Zenith Bank traded 31.1 million units worth N740.3 million, Sterling Bank sold 23.4 million units for N35.1 million, Fidelity Bank exchange 13.8 million units valued at N51.2 million, while Access Holdings transacted 12.3 million units valued at N124.7 million.
In all, investors traded 224.6 million shares worth N3.8 billion in 5,946 deals compared with the 154.1 million shares worth N1.8 billion traded in 4,515 deals last Friday.
This analysis showed that the volume of trades on Monday increased by 45.76 per cent, the value of transactions appreciated by 117.91 per cent, while the number of deals rose by 31.69 per cent.
Business Post reports that the growth posted by the exchange yesterday was significantly buoyed by buying interests in financial stocks, especially the banking curve.
The sector appreciated by 2.83 per cent during the trading session, while the insurance counter grew by 1.38 per cent, with the industrial goods and consumer goods sectors jumping by 0.22 per cent and 0.03 per cent respectively. However, the energy counter depreciated by 0.14 per cent.
