By Dipo Olowookere
The last trading day of November 2023 on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a bullish note by 0.11 per cent on Thursday.
Mild bargain-hunting in industrial goods equities like Lafarge Africa, supported by Airtel Africa, GTCO and other financial stocks left the market in the green territory at the close of business.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 81.91 points to settle at 71,365.25 points compared with the preceding day’s 71,283.34 points, and the market capitalisation grew by N44 billion to N39.052 trillion from N39.008 trillion.
Business Post reports that the domestic stock exchange would have landed in the red zone yesterday, but for the 0.07 per cent growth posted by the industrial goods sector. It was the only advancer of the key counters.
The insurance space shed 0.83 per cent, the banking index went down by 0.41 per cent, the consumer goods index depreciated by 0.32 per cent, and the energy counter fell by 0.14 per cent.
According to data from the bourse, investor sentiment was still weak on Thursday as there were 32 price losers and 25 price gainers, indicating a negative market breadth index.
Northern Nigerian Flour Mills improved its value by 10.00 per cent to N35.20, Thomas Wyatt rose by 9.62 per cent to N2.28, MeCure appreciated by 9.09 per cent to N12.00, Champion Breweries gained 7.69 per cent to sell for N3.50, and Ecobank increased its price by 6.25 per cent to N17.00.
Conversely, Secure Electronic Technology shed 9.72 per cent to quote at 65 Kobo, Unity Bank lost 9.68 per cent to close at N1.40, Tantalizers declined by 9.43 per cent to 48 Kobo, DAAR Communications went down by 9.38 per cent to 29 Kobo, and Deap Capital slumped by 9.23 per cent to 59 Kobo.
A total of 540.1 million stocks worth N10.2 billion were bought and sold in 6,516 deals on Thursday versus the 360.6 million stocks worth N6.6 billion traded in 6,579 deals on Wednesday, representing a decline in the number of deals by 0.96 per cent, and a rise in the trading volume and value by 49.78 per cent and 54.55 per cent, respectively.
GTCO topped the activity chart with a turnover of 67.2 million shares valued at N2.6 billion, Universal Insurance transacted 56.8 million equities worth N13.7 million, Consolidated Hallmark traded 46.1 million stocks for N64.3 million, Transcorp exchanged 42.8 million shares valued at N294.3 million, and FBN Holdings sold 36.0 million shares for N787.5 million.
