Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited marginally closed higher by 0.02 per cent on Friday as investors’ risk appetite fades.
Business Post reports that the slight bargain hunting witnessed at the local equity market on the last trading session of this week was because investors were treading cautiously.
Not even the declaration of a 30 kobo interim dividend from Zenith Bank could trigger a massive buy pressure, though the results, which was relatively flat, were released almost at the close of trades.
When the market closed for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) was just up by a mere 8.47 points to 39,485.65 points from 39,477.18 points, while the market capitalisation rose by N6 billion to N20.573 trillion from N20.567 trillion.
The marginal growth recorded yesterday was just due to the mopping up of shares in the energy and banking sectors, rising respectively by 0.31 per cent and 0.29 per cent.
The insurance counter lost 0.65 per cent, the consumer goods space went down by 0.25 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
In terms of the transactions on Friday, a total of 232.9 million shares worth N1.9 billion were traded in 3,351 deals compared with the 186.3 million shares worth N1.8 billion traded in 3,595 deals a day earlier, implying that the trading volume and value went up by 24.97 per cent and 3.18 per cent respectively, while the number of deals went down by 6.79 per cent.
A further breakdown of the trades showed that Transcorp was the most active as it sold 45.1 million stocks valued at N42.1 million, followed by Mutual Benefits Assurance, which sold 29.3 million shares valued at N8.9 million,
GTCO transacted 22.1 million equities worth N614.3 million during the session, Zenith Bank transacted 16.4 million stocks valued at N399.2 million, while eTranzact exchanged 13.8 million equities for N26.8 million.
A total of 10 equities closed on the losers’ chart yesterday while 18 stocks closed on the gainers’ log led by Morison Industries, which appreciated by 9.47 per cent to settle at N1.85.
FTN Cocoa grew by 9.09 per cent to 48 kobo, Sovereign Trust Insurance improved by 8.70 per cent to 25 kobo, UPDC went up by 8.28 per cent to N1.83, while BOC Gases gained 6.31 per cent to sell at N11.80.
During the session, Unilever Nigeria had the worst day as its share price went down by 10.00 per cent, selling at N13.50 and was trailed by NASCON, which fell by 9.87 per cent to N14.15.
AIICO Insurance depreciated by 4.85 per cent to 98 kobo, Veritas Kapital declined by 4.17 per cent to 23 kobo, while Transcorp decreased by 3.16 per cent to 92 kobo.
