Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Investors were attracted to Fidelity Bank stocks on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, mopping up 38.0 million units worth N67.2 million to lead the activity chart.
Also, 28.0 million units of MTN Nigeria shares valued at N3.2 million were traded during the midweek trading session, while Lafarge Africa transacted 23.1 million equities worth N250.5 million.
Furthermore, 18.2 million stocks of GTBank valued at N403.6 million exchanged hands yesterday, while 16.8 million shares of Zenith Bank worth N276.4 million were bought and sold by investors at the trading day.
Business Post reports that at the close of transactions, more shares were traded by market participants when compared with the preceding session.
A total of 232.6 million worth N4.7 billion exchanged hands on Wednesday in 3,523 deals compared with Tuesday’s 155.5 million stocks worth N2.6 billion traded in 4,060 deals, indicating a decline of 13.23 percent in the number of deals and 49.56 percent and 80.65 percent rise in the volume and value of traded shares.
The renewed interest in the market boosted it by 0.75 percent as a result of gains in the banking sector (3.41 percent), insurance index (1.10 percent) and the industrial good space (0.12 percent). They suppressed the losses printed by the consumer goods sector (-0.21 percent) and the energy counter (-0.18 percent).
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 179.99 points to settle at 24,278.07 points, while the market capitalisation grew by N94 billion to N12.665 trillion.
Julius Berger led the gainers’ chart yesterday with N1.55 added to its share price to finish at N17.20 per share, while GTBank gained N1.45 to sell at N22.50 per unit.
Lafarge Africa grew by N1 to trade at N11 per unit, Okomu Oil appreciated by 80 kobo to end at N70.50 per share, while Zenith Bank expanded by 30 kobo to N16.65 per share.
Leading the losers’ table during the session was Berger Paints. The company’s stocks depreciated by 65 kobo to quote at N6.10 each.
Flour Mills lost 50 kobo to sell at N18 per share, Ecobank depreciated by 20 kobo to trade at N4.60 per unit, share price of Dangote Sugar went down by 10 kobo to N11.60 each, while Caverton declined by 8 kobo to close at N1.74 per share.
Today, investors will be expecting the market to sustain the positive ride as they further expand their portfolio because of the prices of stocks at the moment.
