By Dipo Olowookere
The bulls returned to Customs Street on Tuesday following renewed bargain-hunting by investors, lifting the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.08 per cent.
Analysis of the data showed that the gains were almost across all the sectors, except for the consumer goods counter, which witnessed a mild profit-taking, leaving it in the red zone by 0.04 per cent.
The insurance sector appreciated during the session by 2.13 per cent, the banking sector grew by 0.46 per cent, and the industrial goods index improved by 0.08 per cent, while the energy sector closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) slightly moved up by 57.85 points to 71,066.55 points from 71,008.70 points and the market capitalisation expanded by N31 billion to N39.082 trillion from N39.051 trillion.
Business Post reports that local stocks are getting investors’ attention at the moment because of their prospects, and it was not different yesterday.
The market breadth index was positive on Tuesday, with 45 price gainers and eight price losers, implying a strong investor sentiment.
For the first time since it joined the bourse, MeCure gained 10.00 per cent to close at N6.93 and Learn Africa also increased its value by 10.00 per cent to settle at N3.08. Northern Nigerian Flour Mills soared by 9.90 per cent to N28.85, Cadbury Nigeria gained 9.78 per cent to trade at N15.15, and Multiverse appreciated by 9.77 per cent to N4.38.
On the flip side, Champion Breweries lost 10.00 per cent to close at N3.24, Oando shed 3.72 per cent to N11.65, International Breweries went down by 2.17 per cent to N4.50, FCMB dropped 1.45 per cent to end at N6.80, and Jaiz Bank depreciated by 1.23 per cent to N1.60.
On the activity chart, a total of 491.4 million shares worth N3.2 billion exchanged hands in 6,549 deals during the session compared with the 358.5 million shares valued at N4.4 billion traded in 6,551 deals on Monday, indicating a decline in the trading value by 27.27 per cent, a 0.03 per cent shortfall in the number of deals, and an increase in the volume of trades by 37.07 per cent.
Unity Bank ended the session as the most traded stock with the sale of 75.4 million units valued at N105.4 million, Universal Insurance transacted 61.4 million units worth N15.0 million, Mutual Benefits exchanged 46.6 million units valued at N25.9 million, Japaul traded 30.4 million units worth N52.0 million, and Veritas Kapital sold 29.9 million units for N10.2 million.
Modupe Gbadeyanka