By Dipo Olowookere
Oil stocks were the toast of investors at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday on the back of the eventual removal of subsidy on petrol by the government on Wednesday.
On May 31, 2023, the Nigerian National Petroleum Company (NNPC) Limited signalled the end to fuel subsidy when it said petrol would be sold at N488 per litre in Lagos, N500 per litre in other southwest states, and N537 per litre in Abuja at its retail stations instead of the former subsidised rate of N185 per litre.
This development spurred traders to go after oil stocks in the equity market, which closed higher by 0.07 per cent, with the energy index as the highest advancer at the close of business with 2.27 per cent growth.
The insurance counter rose yesterday by 1.11 per cent, the banking sector appreciated by 0.95 per cent, while the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.26 per cent, with the industrial goods sector closing flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 38.97 points to 55,808.25 points from 55,769.28 points, while the market capitalisation jumped by N21 billion to N30.388 trillion from N30.367 trillion.
Conoil gained 9.92 per cent to close at N63.70, Sterling Bank rose by 9.76 per cent to N2.25, Eterna expanded by 9.74 per cent to N8.45, Cornerstone Insurance grew by 8.97 per cent to 85 Kobo, and Mutual Benefits went up by 8.33 per cent to 39 Kobo.
FTN Cocoa topped the decliners’ table as it fell by 9.88 per cent to 73 Kobo, Champion Breweries lost 9.62 per cent to trade at N3.76, McNichols depleted by 9.21 per cent to 69 Kobo, Chams went down by 8.16 per cent to 45 Kobo, and Fidson slumped by 6.93 per cent to N9.80.
Business Post reports that, unlike the preceding trading session, investor sentiment was strong yesterday as the market breadth was positive, with 30 price gainers and 20 price losers.
The activity was left in red on Thursday as investors toned down their exposure to equities, monitoring how the government intends to address the proposed unification of the different foreign exchange (FX) market segments.
Data showed that 390.2 million shares valued at N5.7 billion were traded in 7,725 deals during the session compared with the 661.5 million shares worth N19.0 billion traded in 10,024 deals a day earlier, representing a fall in the trading volume, value, and the number of deals by 41.01 per cent, 70.00 per cent, and 22.93 per cent, respectively.
Access Holdings transacted 51.3 million equities valued at N623.8 million, UBA traded 46.1 million stocks worth N453.1 million, FTN Cocoa sold 37.3 million shares for N29.7 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 37.2 million shares valued at N1.1 billion, and GTCO traded 34.4 million equities worth N993.2 million.
