Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
For the first time this week, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) closed in the bullish territory on Friday after it rebounded by 0.19 per cent, triggered by bargain hunting in MTN Nigeria, UBA, FTN Cocoa and others.
The banking sector recorded the highest improvement during the session, 1.04 per cent, with the consumer goods space rising by 0.13 per cent.
However, the insurance counter depreciated by 1.47 per cent, the energy sector went down by 0.41 per cent, while the industrial goods closed flat at the close of transactions.
When the market closed for the session at 2:30 pm, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 90.54 points to settle at 47,351.43 points compared with the previous day’s 47,260.89 points. As for the market capitalisation, it grew by N49 billion to end at N25.791 trillion as against the N25.742 trillion it closed on Thursday.
FTN Cocoa was the best-performing stock yesterday as its value went up by 7.14 per cent to 30 Kobo, International Breweries grew by 5.56 per cent to N4.74, Sovereign Trust Insurance rose by 4.00 per cent to 26 Kobo, Sterling Bank appreciated by 3.33 per cent to N1.55, and UBA expanded by 3.05 per cent to N6.75.
On the flip side, May and Baker finished as the worst-performing stock after its value decreased by 9.78 per cent to N3.69, NASCON fell by 9.52 per cent to N9.50, Academy Press declined by 9.38 per cent to N1.45, Coronation Insurance dropped 8.57 per cent to 32 Kobo, and UPDC REIT shrank by 8.20 per cent to N2.80.
Business Post reports that the market breadth was at par on Friday as there were 14 price gainers and 14 price losers.
But yesterday, the level of activity waned as investors transacted 137.3 million stocks worth N1.7 billion in 3,845 deals in contrast to the 140.7 million stocks worth N2.5 billion transacted in 4,371 deals on Thursday, indicating a decline in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 2.41 per cent, 31.94 per cent and 12.03 per cent, respectively.
