Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The loss reported on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Monday was reversed on Tuesday on the back of renewed bargain-hunting.
The local stock market appreciated by 0.51 per cent yesterday after the share prices of Flour Mills and 20 others closed in the green territory.
Investor sentiment was strong during the trading day because only 13 equities finished on the losers’ table, indicating a positive market breadth index.
Flour Mills topped the gainers chart after it expanded by 9.93 per cent to N31.00, University Press improved by 9.81 per cent to N2.35, Chams grew by 9.37 per cent to N1.75, Geregu Power rose by 9.05 per cent to N343.50, and Thomas Wyatt gained 9.02 per cent to trade at N4.35.
On the flip side, VFD Group maintained its top spot on the losers’ log after it further dropped 9.98 per cent to sell for N218.20, ABC Transport declined by 9.88 per cent to 73 Kobo, FTN Cocoa depreciated by 3.70 per cent to N1.56, NGX Group shed 3.67 per cent to N21.00, and Vitafoam slumped by 3.44 per cent to N22.45.
Business Post reports that the insurance counter lost 0.46 per cent due to profit-taking, as the energy and industrial goods indices closed flat, while the banking and the consumer goods sectors appreciated by 1.44 per cent and 0.54 per cent, respectively.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 340.85 points to close at 67,217.77 points compared with Monday’s 66,876.92 points and the market capitalisation appreciated by N188 billion to N36.930 trillion from N36.742 trillion.
The stock exchange was quite busy on Tuesday, resulting in an increase in the trading volume, value and the number of deals by 1.69 per cent, 43.18 per cent and 2.27 per cent apiece.
A total of 319.9 million equities worth N6.3 billion exchanged hands in 6,272 deals during the session versus the 314.6 million equities worth N4.4 billion transacted in 6,133 deals in the preceding day.
Access Holdings topped the activity chart after selling 50.8 million stocks valued at N838.0 million, GTCO traded 42.0 million shares worth N1.5 billion, Fidelity Bank transacted 32.1 million equities worth N264.1 million, UBA traded 25.7 million shares valued at N496.7 million, and Sterling Holdings sold 19.4 million equities for N70.0 million.
