Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The resurgence of buying interests on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited pushed the key market indices higher by a marginal 0.01 per cent on Thursday.
This was reflected in the investor sentiment, which was strong as the market breadth ended positive with 10 depreciating stocks and 15 appreciating equities led by Academy Press, which gained 9.55 per cent to close at N1.72.
NAHCO appreciated by 9.41 per cent to N9.30, FYN Cocoa grew by 9.38 per cent to 35 Kobo, Honeywell Flour chalked up 8.39 per cent to sell at N2.97, while Ikeja Hotel went up by 8.20 per cent to N1.32.
RT Briscoe climbed to the top of the losers’ chart yesterday after it shed 8.11 per cent to sell for 34 Kobo, UPDC went down by 7.87 per cent to N1.17, Regency Assurance dropped 7.41 per cent to trade at 25 Kobo, Japaul depreciated by 3.45 per cent to 28 Kobo, while FBN Holdings decreased by 3.20 per cent to N10.60.
During the session, the energy and industrial goods counters closed flat, while the insurance space lost 0.11 per cent, with the banking and consumer goods landscapes gaining 0.50 per cent and 0.12 per cent respectively.
The gains posted by the two sectors raised the All-Share Index (ASI) higher by 7.19 points to 51,563.73 points from 51,556.54 points and lifted the market capitalisation by N12 billion to 27.807 trillion from N27.795 trillion.
A total of 143.3 million shares worth N1.8 billion exchanged hands in 3,874 deals on Thursday compared with the 135.3 million shares worth N1.4 billion transacted in 3,745 deals on Wednesday, representing an increase in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 5.94 per cent, 22.07 per cent and 3.44 per cent apiece.
Jaiz Bank was the busiest stock as it exchanged 42.1 million units valued at N36.6 million, GTCO traded 19.5 million units worth N396.8 million, Sterling Bank transacted 9.4 million units worth N14.1 million, UBA transacted 6.9 million units valued at N51.4 million, while NAHCO sold 5.2 million units worth N46.1 million.
