Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Despite a weak sectorial performance on Tuesday, the Nigerian exchange closed 0.81 per cent higher on the back of gains in Airtel Africa, MTN Nigeria, Guinness Nigeria and nine others.
It was observed that investors were taking a position in these equities, helping the market to close green yesterday despite the losses recorded by GTCO, Zenith Bank, Oando and 23 others.
Business Post reports that apart from the industrial goods sector, which closed flat, every other finished bearish with the insurance index losing 0.97 per cent.
Furthermore, the banking space went down by 0.81 per cent, the consumer goods counter depreciated by 0.26 per cent, while the energy sector decreased by 0.24 per cent.
However, this did not affect the All-Share Index (ASI), which went up by 313.27 points to 38,917.99 points from 38,604.72 points, while the market capitalisation rose by N163 billion to N20.277 trillion from N20.114 trillion.
The best-performing stock on Tuesday was Wema Bank, which improved by 5.95 per cent to sell at 89 kobo and was closely followed by UPDC, which gained 5.93 per cent to trade at N1.25.
Airtel Africa appreciated by 5.69 per cent to N650.00, Courtville grew by 4.17 per cent to 25 kobo, while Cutix increased by 3.95 per cent to N5.00.
On the flip side, the worst-performing stock for the session was FTN Cocoa as it went down by 8.16 per cent to close at 45 kobo.
Honeywell Flour depreciated by 7.78 per cent to N1.54, Mutual Benefits Assurance declined by 5.13 per cent to 37 kobo, Transcorp dropped 5.10 per cent to settle at 93 kobo, while Neimeth lost 5.06 per cent to sell at N1.50.
During the session, a total of 231.5 million shares worth N2.1 billion exchanged hands in 4,651 deals as against the 244.3 million shares worth N1.9 billion transacted in 4,609 deals on Monday, indicating a 5.25 per cent decline in the trading volume, an 11.77 per cent rise in the trading value and a 0.91 per cent increase in the number of deals.
Analysis of the activity chart showed that Transcorp was the most active stock yesterday as it sold 17.5 million units valued at N16.6 million.
Jaiz Bank transacted 16.6 million units worth N10.2 million, Honeywell Flour sold 13.0 million units valued at N20.0 million, Wema Bank traded 11.4 million units for N10.0 million, while Mutual Benefits exchanged 11.1 million units worth N4.0 million.
