By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited witnessed a 0.10 per cent growth on Monday amid optimism that the trip of President Bola Tinubu to Qatar over the weekend will yield positive results.
At the Nigeria-Qatar Business and Investment Forum in Doha, Mr Tinubu assured Qatari investors that they would not face any bottleneck while attempting to repatriate their funds.
This assurance was welcomed by stock investors, who saw light at the end of the tunnel for the nation’s economy, which is currently suffering because of the shortage in the supply of foreign exchange (FX) into the market.
Since the inception of the government of President Tinubu, the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) has made efforts to clear the forex backlogs of about $7 billion, mainly from investors whose funds are trapped in the country.
Mr Tinubu’s assurance gave hope to foreign portfolio investors (FPIs), who joined their local counterparts to mop up more equities on the exchange, especially in the industrial goods sector, which closed higher by 1.58 per cent.
It offset the losses posted by the others, as the consumer goods, banking, and insurance indices depreciated by 1.20 per cent, 0.46 per cent, and 0.19 per cent, respectively, while the energy counter closed flat.
It was observed that the market capitalisation of the NGX grew yesterday by 3.43 per cent or N1.855 trillion due to the listing of Transcorp Power shares, closing at N55.890 trillion compared with last Friday’s N54.035 trillion.
However, the All-Share Index (ASI) recorded a marginal gain of 0.10 per cent or 95.91 points to settle at 98,847.89 points versus the preceding session’s 98,751.98 points.
The trading volume, value, and the number of deals increased on Monday by 16.87 per cent, 192.65 per cent, and 17.24 per cent apiece because traders bought and sold 429.6 million shares valued at N19.9 billion in 10,749 deals versus the 367.6 million shares worth N6.8 billion traded in 9,168 deals last Friday.
Transcorp emerged as the most traded equity yesterday with a turnover of 203.4 million units valued at N3.2 billion and was trailed by its scion, Transcorp Power, which sold 40.0 million units worth N10.6 billion. UBA traded 19.6 million stocks for N448.0 million, AIICO Insurance transacted 12.7 million equities valued at N13.1 million, and Access Holdings exchanged 12.4 million shares worth N259.9 million.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was at equilibrium at the close of transactions after recording 25 price gainers and 25 price losers.
Transcorp gained 9.94 per cent to sell at N15.70, PZ Cussons appreciated by 9.93 per cent to N37.10, Neimeth expanded by 9.88 per cent to N1.89, Juli soared by 9.87 per cent to N4.12, and Consolidated Hallmark advanced by 9.29 per cent to N1.53.
On the flip side, the trio of Vitafoam, Dangote Sugar, and Unity Bank lost 10.00 per cent each to trade at N22.95, N53.10, and N1.98, respectively, while NASCON shed 8.55 per cent to N53.50 and MTN Nigeria dropped 7.82 per cent to N185.00.
Adedapo Adesanya