Investors' Patronage of FBN Holdings, Others Extends NGX Bull Run by

By Dipo Olowookere

The sustained interest in banking stocks, especially the tier-one, extended the bull run of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday by 0.12 per cent.

The market closed in the positive territory yesterday as a result of the gains posted by the banking and industrial goods sectors as they closed higher by 0.06 per cent and 0.05 per cent apiece.

The duo weakened the effect of the losses posted by the trio of insurance, consumer goods and energy counters, which closed lower by 0.67 per cent, 0.15 per cent and 0.04 per cent respectively.

At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 48.54 points to 40,765.20 points from 40,716.66 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N25 billion to N21.242 trillion from N21.217 trillion.

During the session, 400.7 million shares worth N3.5 billion were traded in 5,145 deals in contrast to the 433.0 million shares worth N3.1 billion transacted in 4,377 deals at the preceding session, indicating a decline in the trading volume by 7,47 per cent, an increase in the trading value by 11.33 per cent and growth in the number of deals by 17.55 per cent.

Business Post reports that the most traded stock at the market yesterday was FBN Holdings as it transacted 108.7 million units valued at N1.1 billion and was followed by Transcorp, which traded 39.7 million units valued at N38.4 million.

Ecobank exchanged 32.8 million shares worth N189.9 million, UBA transacted 25.3 million stocks valued at N204.4 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 19.9 million equities valued at N51.2 million.

On the trading day, the investor sentiment was negative despite the market closing in the green territory as there were 20 price losers and 19 price gainers led by FBN Holdings, which rose by 7.78 per cent to finish at N9.70.

University Press gained 7.38 per cent to sell for N1.31, Northern Nigerian Flour Mills rose by 6.49 per cent to N8.20, Livestock Feeds grew by 5.38 per cent to N2.35, while Universal Insurance appreciated by 5.00 per cent to 21 kobo.

On the flip side, Pharma Deko lost 6.01 per cent to top the laggards’ table, closing at N2.66. ABC Transport went down by 5.71 per cent to 33 kobo, Regency Alliance dropped 4.88 per cent to 39 kobo, Chams fell by 4.55 per cent to 21 kobo, while Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 4.17 per cent to finish at 23 kobo.