By Dipo Olowookere
The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited crossed N21 trillion on Tuesday following demand for shares of Airtel Africa, GTCO, Zenith Bank, FBN Holdings and others as a result of news around them, especially Airtel Africa, lately.
The market appreciated by 1.18 per cent yesterday and this pushed the total value of equities on the exchange higher by N247 billion to N21.217 trillion from N20.970 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) moved closer to the 41,000 psychological mark yesterday after it went up by 473.61 points to settle at 40,716.66 points compared with 40,243.05 points it closed on Monday.
Business Post reports that the gains recorded during the session were basically inspired by the banking and energy sectors, which grew by 2.50 per cent and 0.80 per cent respectively as the insurance space lost 1.15 per cent, while the consumer goods counter fell by 0.44 per cent, with the industrial goods sector closing flat.
When the market closed for the day, FBN Holdings was on top of the gainers’ chart with a price appreciation of 9.76 per cent to trade at N9.00 and was followed by Pharma Deko, which grew by 9.69 per cent to N2.83.
Courtville appreciated by 7.89 per cent yesterday to sell at 41 kobo, Learn Africa went up by 7.64 per cent to quote at N1.55, while Jaiz Bank added 7.02 per cent to its share price to sell for 61 kobo.
Conversely, University Press topped the losers’ table after it went down by 9.63 per cent to N1.22, Regency Alliance fell by 8.89 per cent to 41 kobo, International Breweries declined by 6.25 per cent to N4.50, PZ Cussons lost 5.22 per cent to trade at N5.45, while ConsolidaMarket Capitalisationted Hallmark Insurance decreased by 4.84 per cent to 59 kobo.
It was observed that the market was busy on Tuesday as investors are beginning to cherry-pick equities they believe could rise in value in the coming days, especially as they await Q3 earnings of listed firms.
A total of 433.0 million stocks valued at N3.1 billion were bought and sold by investors in 4,377 deals compared with the 202.4 million stocks worth N1.9 billion traded in 4,066 deals on Monday, signifying an increase in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 113.98 per cent, 67.63 per cent and 7.65 per cent respectively.
Universal Insurance was the most active stock for trading 105.1 million units worth N21.2 million, FBN Holdings traded 46.3 million units valued at N411.2 million, Access Bank exchanged 30.7 million units for N286.7 million, GTCO transacted 25.7 million units valued at N721.4 million, while Courtville sold 22.4 million units for N9.2 million.
