By Dipo Olowookere
The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited crossed to the next level on Tuesday on the back of a 0.72 per cent growth inspired by sustained buying pressure.
Data from the exchange showed that the benchmark index rose by 337.08 points to settle at 47,205.03 points compared with 46,867.95 points of the preceding trading day.
Also, the market capitalisation of the exchange went up by N182 billion during the session to finish at N25.449 trillion in contrast to the N25.267 trillion it end a day earlier.
From an analysis of the trading details, demand for financial stocks persisted yesterday with the banking index growing further by 2.83 per cent and the insurance sector appreciating by 1.38 per cent. The industrial goods counter improved by 0.22 per cent, the consumer goods index rose by 0.03 per cent, while the energy counter depreciated by 0.14 per cent.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained strong on Tuesday as the market breadth ended positively with 30 appreciating stocks and 17 depreciating stocks.
CAP gained 10.00 per cent to trade at N19.80, Neimeth grew by 9.86 per cent to N1.56, Berger Paints improved by 9.68 per cent to N6.80, Meyer also appreciated by 9.68 per cent to N1.36, while Learn Africa chalked up 9.52 per cent to sell for N2.07.
A look at the other side of the coin showed that Academy Press lost 10.00 per cent to quote at N1.44, Caverton depreciated by 9.92 per cent to N1.18, Royal Exchange fell by 9.62 per cent to 94 kobo, Linkage Assurance decreased by 7.55 per cent to 49 kobo, while Prestige Assurance retreated by 6.98 per cent to 40 kobo.
As for the activity chart, investors traded 245.4 million equities valued at N4.6 billion in 5,832 deals as against the 224.6 million equities worth N3.8 billion traded in 5,946 deals on Monday.
This showed that the volume of trades increased by 9.25 per cent, the value of transactions went up by 19.80 per cent, while the number of deals depreciated by 1.92 per cent.
A breakdown revealed that GTCO topped the table as the most active stock with the sale of 39.1 million units valued at N908.9 million, followed by Zenith Bank with 27.2 million units worth N674.3 million.
Nigerian Breweries transacted 15.5 million stocks valued at N622.9 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 11.0 million equities for N40.8 million, while Linkage Assurance traded 10.8 million shares for N5.4 million.
