By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further finished stronger by 0.38 per cent on Wednesday on the back of sustained bargain hunting.
This pushed the All-Share Index (ASI) higher during the session by 154.23 points to 41,051.19 points from the previous day’s 40,896.96 points and raised the market capitalisation by N80 billion to N21.391 trillion from N21.311 trillion.
It was observed that the demand for banking stocks, especially GTCO, FBN Holdings and others contributed to the growth the market witnessed yesterday, leaving the sector closing higher by 1.40 per cent.
The energy space grew by 0.51 per cent, the insurance counter appreciated by 0.42 per cent, the consumer goods space went up by 0.35 per cent, while the industrial goods sector rose by 0.15 per cent.
Business Post reports that FBN Holdings emerged as the most traded stock during the session with the sale of 148.4 million units valued at N1.7 billion.
Universal Insurance sold 46.2 million stocks worth N9.7 million, Ecobank transacted 42.6 million shares valued at N316.1 million, GTCO exchanged 32.6 million equities for N923.0 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 19.7 million stocks for N53.2 million.
At the close of transactions, a total of 446.2 million shares worth N4.5 billion were exchanged hands in 4,704 deals compared with the 563.9 million shares worth N5.1 billion executed in 4,253 deals, indicating a decline in the trading volume by 20.87 per cent, a decline in the trading value by 12.36 per cent and an increase in the number of deals by 10.60 per cent.
The market breadth was positive at the midweek session as there were 29 price gainers and 14 price losers, with FTN Cocoa leading the pack as a result of the 8.00 per cent loss it printed to settle at 46 kobo.
ABC Transport went down by 5.88 per cent to 32 kobo, Regency Alliance dropped 5.00 per cent to 38 kobo, Ikeja Hotels declined by 4.55 per cent to N1.05, while Universal Insurance depleted by 4.55 per cent to 21 kobo.
On the gainers’ log, Transcorp led with a price appreciation of 9.94 per cent to close at N5.97, Champion Breweries gained 9.88 per cent to N2.78, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance improved by 9.09 per cent to 60 kobo, Okomu Oil gained 8.23 per cent to trade at N125.00, while University Press rose by 6.67 per cent to N1.60.
