Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited crossed the 51,000 psychological points on Monday after gaining 1.90 per cent following a sustained buying pressure from investors.
The All-Share Index (ASI) climbed by 967.45 points to 51,902.48 points from 50,935.03 points. It was the highest point reached by the exchange since the 2008 global meltdown.
Also during the trading session, the market capitalisation, which measures the total value of stocks on the bourse, appreciated by N521 billion to settle at N27.981 trillion from 27.460 trillion.
It was observed that buying interest in consumer goods and a few others contributed to the growth achieved yesterday amid profit-taking in the financial services sector.
The consumer goods index rose by 2.15 per cent, the energy counter gained 0.47 per cent, the industrial goods sector appreciated by 0.21 per cent, while the insurance and banking counters depreciated by 1.27 per cent and 0.28 per cent respectively.
Business Post reports that the market breadth remained positive with 21 depreciating stocks and 37 appreciating stocks led by Nigerian Breweries, which gained 10.00 per cent to trade at N77.00.
Cadbury Nigeria rose by 9.96 per cent to N14.90, Royal Exchange grew by 9.90 per cent to N1.11, Champion Breweries improved by 9.88 per cent to N3.67, while International Breweries gained 9.63 per cent to sell for N7.40.
Transcorp Hotels ended the session as the worst-performing stock after its price dropped 10.00 per cent to N4.05, Guinness Nigeria fell by 9.59 per cent to N99.45, Multiverse depreciated by 9.09 per cent to 20 kobo, Coronation Insurance dropped 6.67 per cent to 42 kobo, while Sunu Assurances declined by 6.06 per cent to 31 kobo.
At the market on Monday, a total of 337.6 million shares worth N5.6 billion exchanged hands in 7,684 deals compared with the 466.3 million shares worth N5.3 billion traded in 7,442 deals last Friday, implying a decline in the trading volume by 27.60 per cent, an increase in the trading value by 4.63 per cent and growth in the number of deals by 3.25 per cent.
Transcorp recorded the highest volume of trades with a turnover of 37.8 million units worth N45.0 million, GTCO traded 24.8 million shares valued at N580.6 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 21.2 million equities worth N521.7 million, Access Holdings transacted 19.4 million stocks for N185.5 million, while FBN Holdings traded 15.9 million shares worth N190.3 million.
