By Dipo Olowookere
Trading further closed higher by 0.69 per cent at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday, though the activity level waned at the close of business.
The upward trajectory witnessed yesterday was largely due to the interest of investors in the shares of Airtel Africa, Zenith Bank, Oando, GTCO and a few others.
In view of this, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 271.84 points to 39,448.46 points from 39,176.62 points, while the market capitalisation rose by N141 billion to N20.553 trillion from N20.412 trillion.
At the close of transactions yesterday, investor sentiment remained positive as the market finished with 20 price gainers and 15 price losers.
Pharma Deko finished as the best-performing stock as its price jerked up by 9.17 per cent to N1.19, while Neimeth grew by 8.61 per cent to N1.64.
Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 7.69 per cent to N1.40, Livestock Feeds grew by 6.84 per cent to N2.03, while Linkage Assurance rose by 6.78 per cent to 63 kobo.
However, FTN Cocoa had a bad day on Wednesday, closing as the worst-performing stock with a price depreciation of 8.89 per cent to settle at 41 kobo.
Wema Bank declined by 7.32 per cent to 76 kobo, May & Baker went down by 6.38 per cent to N4.40, Mutual Benefits dropped 5.56 per cent to sell for 34 kobo, while Veritas Kapital decreased by 4.17 per cent to 23 kobo.
In terms of the trades, the volume, value of shares and the number of deals declined at the midweek session by 61.77 per cent, 47.53 per cent and 13.51 per cent respectively.
This was because investment in local stocks at the market shrank as 181.4 million shares worth N2.1 billion exchanged hands in 3,599 deals compared with the 474.5 million shares worth N4.0 billion traded in 4,161 deals.
Transcorp was the most traded equity as it sold 20.5 million units valued at N19.3 million, Ecobank exchanged 17.5 million units worth N98.0 million, FCMB traded 15.3 million units for N48.2 million, Sterling Bank transacted 14.1 million units worth N22.2 million, while UBA traded 10.9 million units valued at N83.4 million.
On the sectorial performance, the banking, energy and insurance sectors closed positive with 0.45 per cent, 0.08 per cent and 0.01 per cent growths respectively, while the consumer goods space lost 0.02 per cent, with the industrial goods counter closing flat.
