Investors Recover N165bn as FBN Holdings, BUA Cement, Others Gain

By Dipo Olowookere

The bulls recaptured the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday after the bears dominated for two straight days as a result of panic selling due to the macroeconomic environment, especially with the poor performance of the Naira in the foreign exchange (FX) market.

During the midweek session, the local bourse finished higher by 0.30 per cent on renewed bargain-hunting activities by investors.

This raised the market capitalisation of the domestic exchange by N165 billion to N55.464 trillion from N55.299 trillion, as the All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 301.71 points to 101,362.38 points from 101,060.67 points.

Business Post reports that the industrial goods counter gained 1.60 per cent, the banking index expanded by 0.31 per cent, and the energy space rose by 0.07 per cent, while the insurance and consumer goods sectors went down by 2.50 per cent and 0.24 per cent, respectively.

Despite the gains recorded by the NGX yesterday, investor sentiment remained weak due to a negative market breadth index as Customs Street ended with 43 price losers and 11 price gainers led by FBN Holdings, which jumped by 9.96 per cent to N28.70.

Juli increased during the session by 9.60 per cent to N1.94, Mutual Benefits surged by 9.38 per cent to 70 Kobo, Regency Alliance soared by 7.32 per cent to 44 Kobo, and BUA Cement solidified its value by 4.93 per cent to N150.00.

On the flip side, Okomu Oil lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N243.00, Morison Industries dropped 9.69 per cent to N2.05, Sterling Holdings crashed by 9.58 per cent to N4.34, Japaul crumbled by 9.34 per cent to N2.33, and Caverton tumbled by 9.19 per cent to N1.68.

The activity chart closed mixed on Wednesday after the volume of trades went up by 18.15 per cent, and the number of deals went down by 1.96 per cent, with the value of transactions unchanged.

Investors bought and sold 302.7 million stocks valued at N6.6 billion in 8,611 deals versus the 256.2 million stocks valued at N6.6 billion traded in 8,783 deals on Tuesday.

FBN Holdings was the darling of traders on Wednesday, exchanging 39.4 million shares valued at N1.1 billion, Japual traded 30.2 million equities worth N71.0 million, Transcorp transacted 27.4 million shares for N353.1 million, Veritas Kapital sold 23.4 million shares worth N16.8 million, and GTCO traded 17.2 million equities valued at N667.2 million.