By Dipo Olowookere
The upward movement seen at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited lately was maintained on Tuesday as the market closed 0.49 per cent higher.
This was supported by sustained buying pressure across the major sectors, with the banking index growing by 1.30 per cent. The consumer goods sector appreciated by 0.37 per cent, the industrial goods counter rose by 0.11 per cent, and the insurance space improved by 0.07 per cent, while the energy sector closed flat.
When the closing gong was struck, the All-Share Index (ASI) moved up by 250.75 points to 51,606.49 points from 51,355.74 points, and the market capitalisation went up by N137 billion to N28.100 trillion from N27.963 trillion.
Investor sentiment was very strong yesterday, with the market breadth on the positive side because of the 33 stocks on the gainers’ chart and nine stocks on the losers’ table.
Japaul was the best-performing equity because of the 10.00 per cent jump in its share price to close at 33 Kobo. Honeywell Flour rose by 9.91 per cent to N2.55, Berger Paints improved by 9.87 per cent to N8.35, Transcorp appreciated by 9.80 per cent to N2.69, and Ikeja Hotel chalked up 9.35 per cent to N1.52.
At the other end, Coronation Insurance ended the session as the worst-performing stock after it shed 7.32 per cent to 38 Kobo, NGX Group lost 4.89 per cent to trade at N25.30, RT Briscoe fell by 4.00 per cent to 24 Kobo, AIICO Insurance went down by 3.64 per cent to 53 Kobo, and Royal Exchange depreciated by 3.17 per cent to 61 Kobo.
The activity level for Tuesday, the first trading session of the week, showed a significant increase in the demand for Nigerian stocks.
A total of 2.1 billion shares worth N8.9 billion exchanged hands in 6,404 deals during the session compared with the 600.8 million shares worth N5.1 billion traded in 4,309 deals in the preceding trading day, representing an increase in the trading volume, value and the number of deals by 247.90 per cent, 74.51 per cent and 48.62 per cent, respectively.
Transcorp emerged as the most traded stock yesterday as it sold 1.7 billion units valued at N4.1 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 217.4 million units worth N2.3 billion, Fidelity Bank transacted 30.7 million units for N175.8 million, Zenith Bank traded 27.6 million units worth N608.8 million, and UBA sold 18.2 million units valued at N143.6 million.
