By Dipo Olowookere
The decision of investors to buy up some stocks trading at low prices on Friday triggered a 0.15 per cent growth in the local equity market.
This increased the All-Share Index (ASI) by 39.22 points to 25,572.57 points from 25,533.35 points and pushed up the market capitalisation by N21 billion to N13.365 trillion from N13.344 trillion.
The positive performance witnessed yesterday came from the gains printed by Dangote Sugar, GTBank and 15 other stocks, which suppressed the losses posted by Cornerstone Insurance and five other equities.
Dangote Sugar appreciated on Friday by 80 kobo to trade at N12 per share, GTBank gained 35 kobo to rise to N25.35 per unit, Custodian Investment improved by 30 kobo to quote at N4.85 per unit, Neimeth appreciated by 15 kobo to sell for N1.95 per share, while Caverton gained 14 kobo to trade at N1.84 per share.
On the other side of the coin, Cornerstone Insurance topped the losers’ chart after shedding 5 kobo to close at 61 kobo per share, Cutix fell by 5 kobo to finish at N1.70 per unit, ABC Transport depreciated by 3 kobo to quote at 30 per unit, LASACO Assurance declined by 2 kobo to trade at 25 kobo per share, while Jaiz Bank depreciated by one kobo to settle at 59 kobo per share.
Business Post reports that the activity chart was bearish yesterday following the 45.55 per cent, 36.79 per cent and 31.70 per cent declines in the trading volume, value and number of deals respectively.
A total of 125.9 million shares worth N1.3 billion were traded in 2,295 deals on Friday in contrast to the 231.2 million stocks worth N2.1 billion transacted in 3,360 deals on Thursday.
FBN Holdings was the most active stock of the session, transacting 35.8 million units valued at N165.4 million and was trailed by FCMB, which traded 29.3 million equities worth N60.3 million.
Zenith Bank exchanged 16.0 million shares worth N267.3 million yesterday. Access Bank traded 11.6 million stocks for N74.4 million, while Cornerstone Insurance sold 10.0 million units valued at N6.1 million.
The best performing sector yesterday was consumer goods, which rose by 0.59 per cent and was followed by the banking space, which gained 0.30 per cent.
The insurance counter was the only decliner of the session, losing 0.03 per cent, while the energy and industrial goods sectors closed flat.
