FTN Cocoa, Oando, Others Lift NGX by 0.17% on Renewed Buying Pressure

By Dipo Olowookere

The loss reported on Tuesday on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was reversed on Wednesday with a 0.17 per cent appreciation on the back of renewed bargain-hunting.

It was observed that the energy and industrial goods sectors closed flat yesterday, as the banking space grew by 0.76 per cent, the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.27 per cent, and the industrial goods counter increased by 0.08 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) jumped by 167.84 points to 99,385.44 points from 99,217.60 points and the market capitalisation went up by N95 billion to settle at N56.221 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N56.126 trillion.

The market breadth index was positive during the midweek session as there were 35 price gainers and 13 price losers, implying a strong investor sentiment.

The trio of FTN Cocoa, Oando and CWG chalked up 10.00 per cent each to sell for N1.54, N13.75, and N6.60 apiece, as C&I Leasing appreciated by 9.33 per cent to N3.28 and Veritas Kapital gained 9.09 per cent to trade at 96 Kobo.

On the flip side, Secure Electronic Technology lost 10.00 per cent to close at 54 Kobo, Cornerstone Insurance fell by 8.64 per cent to N2.01, Royal Exchange depreciated by 7.58 per cent to quote at 61 Kobo, Tantalizers shrank by 4.17 per cent to 46 Kobo, and Universal Insurance crumbled by 2.78 per cent to 35 Kobo.

Business Post reports that the activity level was lower than the preceding trading day, with the volume of transactions, value of trades and the number of deals going down by 23.56 per cent, 33.87 per cent, and 10.74 per cent, respectively.

This happened after investors bought and sold 276.4 million shares worth N4.1 billion in 7,597 deals compared with the 361.6 million shares worth N6.2 billion traded in 8,511 deals the previous day.

Access Holdings transacted 45.3 million stocks valued at N859.4 million to finish as the most active, with AIICO Insurance selling 24.0 million equities for N22.9 million.

Further, GTCO traded 13.9 million stocks worth N608.1 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 13.2 million shares for N133.8 million, and SAHCO traded 12.0 million stocks valued at N244.8 million.