Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The continued appetite for local stocks further pushed the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited higher by 0.57 per cent on Friday, making it the fourth straight trading session the bourse closed positive.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased during the session by 246.48 points to settle at 43,854.42 points compared with the previous day’s 43,607.94 points.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation, which measures the total value of equities on the exchange, appreciated by 0.56 per cent or N131 billion to N23.628 trillion from N23.497 trillion.
Yesterday, the exchange announced the delisting of two companies from its trading platform, Studio Press Nigeria Plc and Union Diagnostic and Clinical Services Plc.
Unlike the preceding session, the five sectors of the market ended bullish, with the energy space rising by 0.98 per cent. The banking, industrial goods, consumer goods and insurance counters appreciated by 0.44 per cent, 0.26 per cent, 0.19 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively.
Cornerstone Insurance and Meyer were the best-performing stocks during the session, rising by 10.00 per cent each to trade at 55 kobo and 55 kobo respectively.
Adrova grew by 9.92 per cent to trade at N13.85, BUA Foods appreciated by 9.92 per cent to N53.20, while PZ Cussons improved by 9.84 per cent to trade at N6.70.
However, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance finished the trading session as the worst-performing stock with a price decline of 9.59 per cent to trade at 66 kobo.
Sovereign Trust Insurance fell by 7.14 per cent to 26 kobo, UPDC declined by 3.28 per cent to N1.18, Julius Berger went down by 2.46 per cent to N21.80, while Regency Assurance fell by 2.08 per cent to 47 kobo.
At the close of business, the stock exchange finished the last session of the week with 31 appreciating equities and nine depreciating equities.
On the activity chart, the trading volume rose by 126.31 per cent to 395.2 million units from 174.6 million units, the trading value grew by 481.35 per cent to N12.4 billion from N2.1 billion and the number of deals increased by 5.60 per cent to 3,923 deals from 3,715 deals.
BUA Foods was investors’ toast as it recorded a turnover of 204.6 million units valued at N10.1 billion, followed by GTCO, which sold 25.7 million units valued at N663.4 million.
Further, Chams traded 22.8 million shares worth N4.6 million, Wema Bank transacted 16.1 million equities worth N13.0 million, while Transcorp exchanged 13.8 million stocks for N13.5 million.
