By Dipo Olowookere
The strong appetite for BUA Cement shares on Friday lifted the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited from the bears’ territory by 1.07 per cent at the close of trades.
It was observed that traders mopped up the cement stock during the session, with holders refusing to let go, making its value rise by 9.17 per cent to N91.70 when trading activities ended by 2:30 pm.
Though it was not the highest price gainer, its performance yesterday saved the equity exchange from the bears, which were ready to maintain their grip on the market.
Prestige Assurance was the best-performing stock on Friday as it appreciated by 9.52 per cent to 46 Kobo, Thomas Wyatt improved by 9.09 per cent to 48 Kobo, Coronation Insurance gained 8.82 per cent to sell for 37 Kobo, and Pharma Deko increased its value by 8.11 per cent to N2.00.
On the flip side, Unity Bank was the worst-performing equity as it shed 9.26 per cent to trade at 49 Kobo, SCOA Nigeria fell by 9.20 per cent to 79 Kobo, Japaul depreciated by 6.90 per cent to 27 Kobo, Livestock Feeds went down by 4.31 per cent to N1.11, and Chams dropped 4.17 per cent to quote at 23 Kobo.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained strong as there were 17 price gainers and 10 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth.
However, the activity level was poor yesterday as the trading volume, value and number of deals decreased by 31.98 per cent, 63.33 per cent, and 28.05 per cent, respectively.
This was because traders exchanged 100.8 million equities worth N1.1 billion in 2,440 deals yesterday against the 148.2 million equities worth N3.0 billion traded in 3,391 deals on Thursday.
Sterling Bank was the busiest stock of the session as it sold 34.2 million units, followed by GTCO, which exchanged 7.3 million units. Japaul transacted 6.7 million units, as United Capital and Transcorp traded 4.1 million units each.
There was an all-round positive performance by the sectors during the session, as the industrial goods, insurance, banking, energy and consumer goods sectors closed higher by 4.33 per cent, 1.11 per cent, 0.73 per cent, 0.15 per cent, and 0.06 per cent, respectively.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) improved by 516.79 points to 48,881.93 points from 48,365.14 points, while the market capitalisation grew by N282 billion to N26.625 trillion from N26.343 trillion.