Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Portfolio rebalancing by investors raised the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.09 per cent on Tuesday as traders prepare for Christmas next Monday.
It was observed that investors were interested in stocks that could appreciate in price in the short and medium term, irrespective of their market cap size, leaving Caverton and Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank on top of the gainers’ chart with 10.00 per cent growth each to settle at N1.76 and N3.41 apiece.
Northern Nigerian Flour Mills rose by 9.42 per cent to N42.40, RT Briscoe appreciated by 9.09 per cent to 60 Kobo, and The Initiates soared by 8.26 per cent to N1.18.
The rebalancing saw some shares being offloaded by traders during the session, leaving the value of Omatek to go down by 10.00 per cent to 63 Kobo at the close of business.
Prestige Assurance fell by 9.62 per cent to 47 Kobo, eTranzact shed 9.60 per cent to trade at N5.65, Stanbic IBTC lost 9.08 per cent to quote at N59.10, and UPDC declined by 9.02 per cent to N1.21.
Business Post reports that there were 36 price gainers and 13 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and a very bullish investor sentiment.
The consumer goods index fell by 0.22 per cent, while the energy sector closed flat, with the banking, insurance and industrial goods counters growing by 1.89 per cent, 0.40 per cent, and 0.22 per cent, respectively.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 65.19 points to settle at 72,470.10 points compared with Monday’s 72,404.91 points and the market capitalisation increased by N36 billion to N39.657 trillion from N39.621 trillion.
This newspaper reports that the equity market was vert busy yesterday as expected in the festive season and end of the year.
A total of 411.2 million stocks valued at N7.0 billion exchanged hands in 6,870 deals during the session versus the 324.3 million shares worth N4.4 billion transacted in 6,745 deals a day earlier, representing an increase in the trading volume, value and the number of deals by 26.80 per cent, 59.09 per cent, and 1.85 per cent, respectively.
UPDC REIT ended the day as the busiest after trading 42.0 million shares worth N187.0 million, UBA sold 34.7 million stocks for N848.5 million, Veritas Kapital transacted 27.7 million equities valued at N9.9 million, Access Holdings exchanged 27.6 million shares worth N611.8 million, and FCMB traded 25.6 million stocks valued at N183.2 million.
