By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closed 0.09 per cent higher on Friday on the back of renewed buying pressure on financial stocks.
GTCO was one of the equities offshore, and local investors were interested in. Though it is currently trading below its true value, it allowed traders to acquire the shares at a relatively cheap price with expectations that it would rise in some months to come.
Also, investors are showing interest in Honeywell Flour and yesterday, it finished as the best-performing stock after it gained 9.86 per cent to close at N2.34. Coronation Insurance appreciated by 9.38 per cent to 35 Kobo, Sovereign Trust Insurance grew by 7.69 per cent to 28 Kobo, Livestock Feeds rose by 6.36 per cent to N1.17, and GTCO gained 5.60 per cent to trade at N17.90.
Data obtained by Business Post showed that investor sentiment was strong during the session as there were 14 price gainers and eight price losers led by Academy Press, which lost 9.66 per cent to settle at N1.31.
Chams fell by 7.14 per cent to 26 Kobo, Red Star Express depreciated by 6.09 per cent to N2.16, Nigerian Breweries went down by 4.03 per cent to N46.45, and FTN Cocoa declined by 3.57 per cent to 27 Kobo.
The activity chart indicated that traders were beginning to show interest in domestic stocks as they traded 124.4 million shares valued at N4.3 billion in 3,101 deals compared with the 86.6 million shares worth N2.1 billion traded in 3,264 deals on Thursday. This implied that the trading volume rose by 43.78 per cent, the trading value grew by 104.36 per cent, while the number of deals decreased by 4.99 per cent.
The insurance index expanded yesterday by 1.80 per cent, the banking space grew by 0.65 per cent, while the consumer goods and energy sectors went down by 0.52 per cent and 0.02 per cent, respectively, with the industrial goods counter closing flat.
The performance of the financial services sector lifted the All-Share Index (ASI) on Friday by 44.66 points to 47,569.04 points from 47,524.38 points and upgraded the market capitalisation by N25 billion to N25.910 trillion from N25.885 trillion.
