Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The local stock market closed 0.21 per cent higher on Wednesday on the back of a renewed buying interest in mid and high-cap equities on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
For three consecutive trading sessions, Customs Street was in the red territory as a result of profit-taking, but gains across the major sectors of the bourse lifted the spirits yesterday.
Business Post reports that the banking index grew at the session by 1.68 per cent, the consumer goods counter gained 0.65 per cent, the insurance space rose by 0.18 per cent, the energy landscape appreciated by 0.09 per cent, while the industrial goods sector leapt by 0.03 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) expanded by 99.99 points to close at 47,157.23 points compared with the previous day’s 47,057.24 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N53 billion to N25.411 trillion from N25.358 trillion it finished on Tuesday.
Unlike the preceding session, the market breadth was positive as the investor sentiment was very strong with 27 price gainers compared with the 14 price losers.
RT Briscoe rallied by 10.00 per cent to 33 kobo, SCOA Nigeria rose by 9.49 per cent to N1.50, Sunu Assurances appreciated by 8.33 per cent to 39 kobo, NEM Insurance gained 7.25 per cent to close at N3.55, while Union Bank was strengthened by 6.84 per cent to N6.25.
Conversely, Juli topped the decliners’ group with a price depreciation of 9.89 per cent to 82 kobo, Multiverse lost 4.76 per cent to end at 20 kobo, Sovereign Trust Insurance declined by 4.17 per cent to 23 kobo, AIICO Insurance shrank by 2.74 per cent to 71 kobo, while UPDC REIT dropped 2.74 per cent to N3.55.
During the trading day, the activity chart was mixed due to the 24.78 per cent increase in the trading volume and the 7.69 per cent and 3.42 per cent fall in the trading value and the number of deals respectively.
A total of 297.3 million equities valued at N4.7 billion were transacted in 4,661 deals yesterday compared with the 238.2 million equities worth N5.1 billion exchanged in 4,826 deals a day earlier.
Access Bank was the busiest stock, trading 48.1 million units valued at N498.7 million, Sovereign Trust Insurance sold 37.5 million units worth N8.6 million, NGX Group exchanged 22.7 million units for N567.1 million, Fidelity Bank transacted 21.0 million units valued at N60.5 million, while Transcorp traded 18.4 million units worth N21.4 million.
