Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited appreciated by 0.51 per cent, as investors reacted positively to the half-year earnings of a few companies, which released the financial statements for the period ended June 30, 2023.
One of the latest to drop its earnings is Stanbic IBTC, which is paying an interim dividend to its shareholders.
This spurred interests in banking stocks on Tuesday, resulting in the All-Share Index (ASI) rising to a 15-year high after it moved up by 338.96 points to 66,490.34 points from 66,151.38 points.
Similarly, the market capitalisation of the bourse increased during the session by N186 billion to settle at N36.391 trillion compared with Monday’s N36.205 trillion.
Business Post reports that the banking, consumer goods and the industrial goods counters appreciated yesterday by 1.63 per cent, 0.99 per cent, and 0.21 per cent, respectively, while the insurance and the energy sector fell by 1.56 per cent, and 0.09 per cent apiece.
Investor sentiment, based on the market breadth index, which was positive, remained bullish on Tuesday as the stock exchange ended the session with 34 price gainers and 32 price losers.
Flour Mills and Champion Breweries topped the gainers’ chart during the trading day after they rose by 10.00 per cent each to N33.00 and N3.19 apiece. NASCON gained 9.96 per cent to close at N54.10, Dangote Sugar appreciated by 9.95 per cent to N57.45, and NAHCO increased by 9.95 per cent to N22.10.
On the flip side, Linkage Assurance and CWG lost 10.00 per cent each to settle at 90 Kobo and N4.05 per cent apiece, as Chellarams fell by 9.85 per cent to N3.57, Prestige Assurance declined by 9.80 per cent to 46 Kobo, and University Press depreciated by 9.66 per cent to N2.15.
The level of activity showed renewed confidence investors have in the local stock market, as the 437.0 million stocks worth N7.0 billion exchanged hands in 7,932 deals compared with the 311.1 million stocks worth N3.9 billion traded in 7,193 deals on Monday, representing a jump in the trading volume, value, and the number of deals by 40.47 per cent, 79.49 per cent, and 10.27 per cent, respectively.
FBN Holdings was the most active stock with 55.2 million units valued at N911.2 million, Japaul traded 33.1 million units worth N29.9 million, UBA exchanged 30.2 million units worth N412.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 25.4 million units valued at N414.4 million, and Transcorp sold 18.2 million units for N127.7 million.
