Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian market sustained its positive momentum on Tuesday as investors hunt for stocks in the mid and high-cap categories they believe would fetch them higher returns in the coming days.
There was a special interest in Oando shares at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited during the session due to the news that the company has bought some assets of a popular Italian energy firm, Agip.
It was not a surprise that Oando finished as one of the best-performing equities at the close of transactions, helping the NGX improve by 0.08 per cent.
Sunu Assurances, Beta Glass, Multiverse, and Omatek gained 10.00 per cent each yesterday to trade at 88 Kobo, N42.90, N2.97, and 55 Kobo apiece, as Oando increased by 9.84 per cent to N6.70.
Conversely, Secure Electronic Technology lost 10.00 per cent to quote at 27 Kobo, Chellarams declined by 9.80 per cent to N3.22, Ikeja Hotel fell by 9.68 per cent to N2.80, John Holt shrank by 9.03 per cent to N1.31, and Neimeth dropped 8.93 per cent to N1.53.
At the close of business, the bourse had 31 price losers and 30 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index and a weak investor sentiment.
This was because of the profit-taking in the banking and the insurance sectors, which closed lower by 0.60 per cent and 0.11 per cent, respectively.
The consumer goods space gained 1.98 per cent, the industrial goods counter appreciated by 0.03 per cent, and the energy sector closed flat as a result of bargain-hunting.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 55.54 points to 68,334.68 points from 68,279.14 points, and the market capitalisation increased by N30 billion to N37.400 trillion from N37.370 trillion.
The activity level dropped on Tuesday, with the trading volume, value, and the number of deals going down by 34.03 per cent, 21.54 per cent, and 17.73 per cent apiece.
A total of 557.9 million equities worth N10.2 billion exchanged hands yesterday in 9,818 deals versus the 845.7 million equities valued at N13.0 billion transacted in 11,934 deals on Monday.
UBA closed the day as the most active stock with 63.3 million units valued at N951.2 million, Oando sold 61.3 million units worth N409.8 million, Fidelity Bank transacted 58.1 million units valued at N486.5 million, Access Holdings traded 42.1 million units for N728.4 million, and Transcorp exchanged 40.7 million units worth N272.2 million.
