Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The positive momentum seen lately at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was sustained on Thursday on the back of persistent appetite for the shares of FBN Holdings Plc.
Business Post reports that Nigerian stocks closed 0.19 per cent higher yesterday, with the transaction level rising significantly as a result of the interest investors are showing in some equities on the exchange.
According to data tracked for the session, a total of 908.1 million equities worth N11.0 billion exchanged hands in 5,151 deals as against the 103.5 million equities worth N4.5 billion transacted in 4,704 deals on Wednesday.
This showed that the volume of shares traded by market participants went up by 103.52 per cent, the value of the stocks rose by 145.65 per cent, and the number of deals increased by 9.50 per cent.
At the close of business, FBN Holdings transacted 602.8 million shares worth N7.1 billion, GTCO traded 63.8 million shares valued at N1.8 billion, Champion Breweries exchanged 37.7 million shares worth N114.8 million, Universal Insurance sold 22.0 million shares for N4.6 million, while UBA transacted 21.2 million shares valued at N176.7 million.
A look at the price movement chart indicated that there were 21 price risers and 14 price laggards, with Champion Breweries leading the gainers’ table after its value rose by 9.71 per cent to N3.05.
Africa Prudential increased by 7.81 per cent to N6.90, FBN Holdings grew by 7.31 per cent to N11.75, Universal Insurance appreciated by 4.76 per cent to 22 kobo, while Chams went up by 4.35 per cent to 24 kobo.
On the flip side, Learn Africa led the losers’ log with a price decline of 10.00 per cent to trade at N1.26, Ecobank dropped 8.16 per cent to sell for N6.75, Coronation Insurance fell by 6.00 per cent to 47 kobo, Linkage Assurance went down by 5.00 per cent to 57 kobo, while NEM Insurance shed 4.46 per cent to close at N1.93.
It was observed that of the five major counters, only the consumer goods and industrial goods sectors appreciated on Thursday by 0.17 per cent and 0.15 per cent respectively as the insurance index fell by 1.13 per cent, the banking space lost 0.86 per cent, and the energy counter dropped 0.01 per cent.
But when the market ended for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) was up by 78.79 points to settle at 41,129.98 points compared with the previous day’s 41,051.19 points, while the market capitalisation grew by N41 billion to finish at N21.432 trillion versus N21.391 trillion of the preceding session.
