By Dipo Olowookere
The bulls extended their stay on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday, with 25 stocks enjoying investors’ patronage.
The market appreciated by 0.74 per cent at the midweek session on the back of sustained bargain hunting as all the major five sectors closed in the green territory.
The industrial goods sector appreciated by 1.33 per cent, the banking counter rose by 1.25 per cent, the insurance index gained 0.37 per cent, the consumer goods space improved by 0.28 per cent, while the energy index appreciated by 0.03 per cent.
When trading activities were halted for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) moved to the next level as it closed at 39,170.95 points from 38,881.70 points after gaining 289.25 points.
However, the market capitalisation remained in the N20 trillion region, though it increased by N151 billion to settle at N20.417 trillion in contrast to the previous day’s N20.266 trillion.
On the activity chart, the trading value increased during the session by 148.95 per cent to N4.0 billion from N1.6 billion, while the trading volume reduced by 16.93 per cent to 181.5 million shares from 218.5 million shares, with the number of deals decreasing by 11.38 per cent to 3,217 deals from 3,630 deals.
Zenith Bank was the most active stock with the sale of 20.8 million units valued at N476.1 million and was trailed by Sterling Bank 19.4 million units worth N31.0 million.
GTBank exchanged 15.1 million worth N432.8 million, FBN Holdings transacted 11.6 million shares valued at N83.9 million, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 11.3 million equities for N25.5 million.
On the price movement chart, the market recorded a total of 25 price risers and six price decliners.
Cutix was the best-performing stock as its value rose by 10.00 per cent to N2.53, Okomu Oil rose by 9.75 per cent to N116.50, Union Bank gained 9.43 per cent to sell for N5.80, Honeywell Flour grew by 8.62 per cent to N1.26, while ABC Transport appreciated by 8.11 per cent to 40 kobo.
On the losers’ side, Sovereign Trust Insurance was the worst as its share price declined by 3.57 per cent to 27 kobo, followed by Jaiz Bank, which lost 3.39 per cent to close at 57 kobo.
FCMB went down by 1.59 per cent to N3.10, FBN Holdings declined by 1.37 per cent to trade at N7.20, while Sterling Bank depreciated by 1.23 per cent to N1.60.
