By Dipo Olowookere
After several attempts, the Nigerian stock market finally crossed the 60,000-point barrier on Tuesday after it closed higher by 1.30 per cent.
It was the last trading session before the two-day Sallah break declared by the federal government, with the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited expected to resume trading activities on Friday, the last day of the first half of 2023.
Investors are already picking stocks of some companies predicted to pay interim dividends to shareholders for the half-year. Firms on the exchange are expected to release their financial statements for the period ended June 2023 in the coming weeks.
The renewed appetite for local shares lifted the All-Share Index (ASI) by 770.10 points to 60,108.86 points from 59,338.76 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N421 billion to N32.730 trillion from N32.309 trillion.
Financial stocks were the toast of traders during the session, with the banking space expanding by 2.40 per cent and the insurance counter improving by 1.68 per cent.
Further, the industrial goods sector appreciated by 1.00 per cent, the energy index rose by 0.52 per cent, and the consumer goods industry went up by 0.14 per cent.
The activity chart was mixed on Tuesday, with the value of transactions going down by 4.58 per cent to N12.5 billion from N13.1 billion and the volume of trades increasing by 38.18 per cent to 763.7 million equities from 552.7 million equities, as the number of deals jumped by 17.52 per cent to 9,463 deals from 8,052 deals.
Access Holdings traded 111.7 million stocks valued at N1.7 billion, GTCO traded 79.0 million shares worth N2.7 billion, UBA sold 72.3 million equities for N878.2 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 65.6 million equities for N195.6 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 52.4 million stocks valued at N1.8 billion.
Investor sentiment was bullish during the trading day, as the bourse finished with 51 price gainers and 13 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth.
Ikeja Hotel, Afromedia, Courteville, and Omatek improved their share prices by 10.00 per cent each to N3.63, 22 Kobo, 66 Kobo, and 33 Kobo, respectively, as Transcorp Hotels gained 9.97 per cent to close at N21.29.
On the flip side, Red Star Express declined by 10.00 per cent to N3.15, C&I Leasing depleted by 9.79 per cent to N3.50, Morison Industries went down by 9.22 per cent to N1.97, Sovereign Trust Insurance slumped by 7.41 per cent to 50 Kobo, and May & Baker lost 6.42 per cent to trade at N5.10.
