By Dipo Olowookere
Confidence is gradually returning to the Nigerian stock market after an initial scare caused by the global pandemic, the coronavirus disease also called COVID-19.
The mood at the market was positive on Wednesday as brokers and investors have fully adjusted to the remote trading system adopted by the management of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) during this period of lockdown in Lagos, where the market is situated.
At yesterday’s session, traders were happy to increase their portfolio as they quickly take position in some fundamentally sound stocks currently selling at very cheap prices, especially in the banking sector.
During the session, GTBank caught the attention of market participants and the stock closed as the most active, trading 102.2 million units worth N1.8 billion.
FBN Holdings transacted 64.7 million shares valued at N289.3 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 30.3 million stocks for N395.4 million, Lafarge Africa traded 27.9 million equities worth N329.4 million, while Fidelity Bank sold 24.9 million stocks valued at N51.1 million.
However, at the close of transactions, the total volume of shares traded reduced by 75.99 percent to 346.4 million units from 1.4 billion traded on Tuesday, while the value of the trades went down by 6.34 percent to N5.2 billion from N5.6 billion, with the number of deals rising by 0.28 percent to 4,660 deals from 4,647 deals.
The market breadth closed positive at the midweek trading session as there were 25 price gainers as against eight price losers.
Lafarge Africa topped the gainers’ log with N1.05 added to the share value of the cement stock to settle at N11.80 per unit.
Dangote Sugar appreciated 85 kobo to sell at N9.75 per share, Stanbic IBTC rose by 55 kobo to N24.50 per share, Flour Mills improved by 50 kobo to quote at N21.50 per unit, while Ecobank swallowed 40 kobo to swell to N4.40 per share.
On the losers’ chart, Ardova claimed the top spot after squeezing out N1.20 to shrink to N11.25 per share, while GlaxoSmithKline depleted by 45 kobo to N4.35 per share.
SAHCO lost 24 kobo to trade at N2.16 per share, Access Bank depreciated by 10 kobo to N6.50 per share, while AIICO declined by 5 kobo to trade at 80 kobo per unit.
Business Post reports that three of the five major sectors of the market landed in the green zone yesterday, while two took a rest in a very tough territory.
The banking sector appreciated by 2.07 percent, the consumer goods index gained 0.99 percent, while the insurance counter grew by 0.14 percent.
However, the industrial goods space depreciated by 2.10 percent, while the energy index declined by 0.55 percent.
The All-Share Index (ASI) moved back to the 21,000 region on Wednesday after rising by 0.17 percent or 148.07 points to settle at 21,073.26 points from 20,925.19 points.
On its part, the market capitalisation gained N77 billion to close at N10.982 trillion compared with N10.905 trillion it ended on Tuesday.
