By Dipo Olowookere
It was a positive outing for the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday as it appreciated by 0.12 per cent at the close of transactions.
Sustained buying pressure got the bulls at the market yesterday, especially in the banking and consumer goods sectors, which grew by 0.25 per cent and 0.15 per cent respectively.
Unfortunately, the insurance sector went down by 0.79 per cent just as the industrial goods counter depreciated by 0.02 per cent, while the energy index closed flat.
When the market finished for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 56.38 per cent to 47,328.42 points from 47,272.04 points, while the market capitalisation went up by N30 billion N25.507 trillion from N25.477 trillion.
Business Post reports that the market breadth closed positive yesterday as there were 21 price gainers and 17 price losers, indicating a slightly strong investor sentiment.
eTranzact maintained its upward movement on Friday, rising by 9.92 per cent to N2.66, Royal Exchange grew by 9.65 per cent to N1.25, RT Briscoe appreciated by 9.30 per cent to 94 kobo, Cornerstone Insurance rose by 7.69 per cent to 70 kobo, while Niger Insurance improved by 7.69 per cent to 28 kobo.
On the flip side, Cutix led the losers’ gang with a price depreciation of 8.47 per cent to settle at N2.70, NEM Insurance declined by 5.00 per cent to N3.80, Veritas Kapital decreased by 4.35 per cent to 22 kobo, Coronation Insurance depleted by 4.00 per cent to 48 kobo, while UPDC decreased by 3.70 per cent to N1.04.
At the market yesterday, investors transacted 253.3 million stocks worth N2.8 billion in 4,266 deals as against the 340.7 million stocks worth N3.9 billion transacted in 5,383 deals on Thursday.
This showed that the volume of shares depleted by 25.64 per cent, the value of shares went down by 28.61 per cent, while the number of deals decreased by 20.75 per cent.
At the close of business, FCMB was the most active stock with a turnover of 50.1 million units valued at N152.9 million, followed by Transcorp with 37.0 million units worth N45.6 million.
UBA exchanged 19.3 million equities valued at N167.7 million, FBN Holdings transacted 17.8 million shares worth N205.0 million, while GTCO sold 10.2 million stocks worth N273.2 million.
