Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) ended the last trading session of the month of February 2022 on a positive note with a marginal growth of 0.14 per cent on Monday.
Buying pressure, especially in Okomu Oil, Ecobank, Zenith Bank, Linkage Assurance, Lafarge Africa and 18 others triggered the gains achieved yesterday.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 66.11 points to settle at 47,394.53 points compared with the previous 47,328.42 points, while the market capitalisation expanded by N36 billion to end at N25.543 trillion as against the preceding trading day’s N25.507 trillion.
Linkage Assurance was the best-performing stock on Monday as its value grew by 10.00 per cent to 55 kobo and was trailed by Royal Exchange, which grew by 9.60 per cent to N1.37.
Regency Assurance improved by 7.69 per cent to 42 kobo, Sunu Assurances also expanded by 7.69 per cent to 42 kobo, while Niger Insurance increased by 7.14 per cent to 30 kobo.
When the coin is flipped, Academy Press emerged as the worst-performing stock after losing 9.69 per cent to sell for N1.77 and was trailed by RT Briscoe, which dropped 9.57 per cent after its recent gains to settle at 85 kobo.
Jaiz Bank depreciated by 5.19 per cent to 73 kobo, Vitafoam went down by 4.90 per cent to trade at N22.30, while Africa Prudential declined by 4.76 per cent to close at N7.00.
In terms of sectoral performance, only the energy counter suffered a loss during the session, going down by 0.21 per cent as the other four sectors closed higher.
The insurance space appreciated by 0.99 per cent, the banking sector improved by 0.55 per cent, the consumer goods index expanded by 0.29 per cent, while the industrial goods landscape rose by 0.18 per cent.
Business Post reports that trading activity improved on Monday, with the trading volume and number of deals rising by 18.73 per cent and 27.38 per cent respectively, while the trading value closed flat.
Investors transacted 300.8 million shares worth N2.8 billion in 5,434 deals yesterday in contrast to the 253.3 million shares worth N2.8 billion transacted in 4,266 deals last Friday.
FCMB ended the day as the most active stock with the sale of 104.4 million units worth N323.6 million, followed by Transcorp with a turnover of 17.0 million units worth N20.8 million.
Zenith Bank traded 15.5 million stocks valued at N419.4 million, RT Briscoe sold 12.7 million equities for N11.6 million, while Ecobank exchanged 11.9 million shares for N146.2 million.
