By Dipo Olowookere
Investors in the Nigerian stock market gained N17 billion on Friday on the back of a sustained buying interest in small and large-cap equities.
The market further grew by 0.08 per cent during the session, expanding the All-Share Index (ASI) by 32.28 points to 39,522.34 points from 39,490.06 points.
The persistent bargain hunting also boosted the market capitalisation yesterday by N17 billion to N20.592 trillion from the previous day’s N20.575 trillion.
According to data obtained by Business Post from the exchange, the consumer goods, banking, insurance and industrial goods sectors appreciated during the session by 0.40 per cent, 0.35 per cent, 0.20 per cent and 0.12 per cent respectively, while the energy counter went down by 0.54 per cent.
At the market yesterday, investor sentiment closed positive with 20 equities on the price gainers’ chart and 15 stocks on the price losers’ table.
FTN Cocoa topped the risers’ gang after its value went up by 10.00 per cent to 44 kobo, Honeywell Flour Mills gained 9.63 per cent to sell at N2.05, Prestige Assurance rose by 9.09 per cent to 48 kobo, UPDC appreciated by 8.85 per cent to N1.23, while Japaul grew by 8.51 per cent to 51 kobo.
On the losers’ side, Cutix dropped 9.91 per cent to trade at N5.00, Juli fell by 9.90 per cent to 91 kobo, Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 7.14 per cent to 26 kobo, Veritas Kapital lost 4.35 per cent to trade at 22 kobo, while Courtville went down by 4.00 per cent to 24 kobo.
At the last trading session of the week, Flour Mills emerged as the most active stock with the sale of 52.5 million stocks valued at N1.6 billion, Honeywell Flour traded 15.5 million shares valued at N31.6 million, Sterling Bank transacted 13.7 million stocks worth N21.2 million, Wema Bank traded 13.3 million shares for N10.5 million, while FBN Holdings exchanged 10.9 million equities valued at N78.9 million.
When the market closed at 2:30 pm, a total of 188.8 million shares worth N3.2 billion were traded in 3,267 deals in contrast to the 570.2 million stocks worth N2.3 billion traded in 3,764 deals on Thursday, indicating a 66.88 per cent decline in the trading volume, 40.98 per cent rise in the trading value and 13.20 per cent fall in the number of deals.
