Domestic Stock Market Gains 0.04% as Turnover Surges 104%

By Dipo Olowookere

The growth reported on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday was sustained on Thursday as the domestic stock market appreciated by 0.04 per cent at the close of transactions.

Persistent buying pressure in Dangote Cement and GTCO ensured the bulls remained at the market when trading activities ended yesterday.

Business Post reports that the industrial goods sector appreciated by 0.53 per cent, and the consumer goods space went up by 0.04 per cent.

The duo offset the 2.01 per cent loss posted by the energy counter, the 0.49 per cent decline reported by the insurance sector and the 0.01 per cent fall in the banking counter.

When the market closed for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) expanded by 21.00 per cent to 55,822.14 points from 55,801.14 points, and the market capitalisation increased by N11 billion to N30.409 trillion from N30.398 trillion.

Transcorp closed the trading session as the most active stock with the sale of 179.8 million units, GTCO sold 41.4 million units, Zenith Bank traded 18.5 million units, Stanbic IBTC exchanged 8.0 million units, and Sterling Bank traded 6.7 million units.

At the close of business, the trading volume increased during the session by 104.00 per cent to 311.5 million stocks from 152.7 million shares, the number of deals increased by 10.14 per cent to 3,627 deals from 3,293 deals, while the trading value decreased by 13.89 per cent to N3.1 billion from N3.6 billion.

The market breadth was negative on Thursday after the price gainers closed with 12 members and the price losers finished with 19 members, indicating a weak investor sentiment.

Transcorp was the best-performing stock as it gained 8.66 per cent to finish at N1.38, Royal Exchange grew by 5.63 per cent to 75 Kobo, Champion Breweries rose by 4.60 per cent to N5.00, Living Trust Mortgage Bank expanded by 4.21 per cent to N2.97, and Chams increased by 4.00 per cent to 26 Kobo.

Conversely, NCR Nigeria closed the session as the worst-performing equity after it shed 9.93 per cent to quote at N2.63, Conoil fell by 9.93 per cent to N42.20, University Press declined by 9.00 per cent to N1.82, Prestige Assurance went down by 8.89 per cent to 41 Kobo, and Ardova crashed by 8.33 per cent to N15.95.