Dipo OlowookereBy Dipo Olowookere
The stock market in Nigeria further appreciated on Thursday by 0.30 per cent on the back of buying interests in BUA Foods, Lafarge Africa, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and others.
BUA Foods, since its listing on the exchange on Wednesday, has continued to attract the interest of investors and yesterday, it grew again by 10.00 per cent to trade at N48.40, leading the gainers’ chart of 24 members.
Academy Press rose by 9.09 per cent to 60 kobo, Meyer improved by 8.70 per cent to 50 kobo, Regency Assurance gained 6.67 per cent to trade at 48 kobo, while Livestock Feeds went up by 6.22 per cent to N2.05.
On the reverse side, Sunu Assurance lost 9.76 per cent to trade at 37 kobo, NEM Insurance fell by 7.78 per cent to N4.15, FTN Cocoa declined by 7.69 per cent to 36 kobo, Oando depreciated by 5.15 per cent to N4.60, while Unilever Nigeria went down by 3.45 per cent to N14.00.
Business Post reports that investors traded 174.6 million shares worth N2.1 billion in 3,715 deals compared with the 1.2 billion shares worth N43.0 billion traded in 4,032 deals on Wednesday.
FBN Holdings was the busiest stock at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday with a turnover of 27.1 million units valued at N307.3 million.
UBA traded 22.0 million units worth N177.5 million, Transcorp transacted 12.0 million units for N11.7 million, BUA Foods traded 11.3 million units worth N544.7 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 10.3 million units for N260.6 million.
From the analysis, the gains of yesterday were fragile as four of the five sectors of the market closed bearish with the insurance, energy, industrial goods and consumer goods counters losing 1.35 per cent, 0.90 per cent, 0.39 per cent and 0.12 per cent respectively.
The banking sector appreciated by 0.44 per cent and at the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 131.19 points to 43,607.94 points from 43,476.75 points, while the market capitalisation appreciated by N70 billion to N23.497 trillion from N23.427 trillion.
