Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
What could have been a loss on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was averted on Wednesday, thanks to MTN Nigeria, Airtel Africa, UAC Nigeria and others.
The demand for these stocks and 19 others ensured that the bulls took control of the market by 0.09 per cent amid a weak investor sentiment and a threat of profit-taking.
Business Post reports that the exchange closed with 29 price losers as all the five sectors of the bourse closed lower, with the industrial goods counter losing 0.34 per cent.
Further, the banking sector depreciated by 0.20 per cent, the consumer goods space went down by 0.09 per cent, the insurance counter fell by 0.04 per cent, while the energy index also declined by 0.04 per cent.
But when the market closed for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 44.43 points to settle at 47,109.25 points as against 47,064.82 points of the preceding session, while the market capitalisation rose by N22 billion to N25.384 trillion from N25.362 trillion.
On the price movement chart, Learn Africa led the gainers after its value rose by 9.94 per cent to close at N1.99, SCOA Nigeria gained 9.55 per cent to trade at N1.95, Veritas Kapital appreciated by 8.70 per cent to finish at 25 kobo, RT Briscoe improved by 8.70 per cent to 50 kobo, while Japaul increased by 8.57 per cent to sell for 38 kobo.
The leader of the price losers at the midweek session was UPDC as its equity value declined by 6.36 per cent to N1.03. Regency Assurance fell by 51.3 per cent to 37 kobo, C&I Leasing dropped 4.76 per cent to N3.60, Prestige Assurance fell by 4.44 per cent to 43 kobo, while Chams depreciated by 4.35 per cent to 22 kobo.
On the activity chart, Business Post reports that the trading volume increased by 16.07 per cent to 318.3 million shares from the previous day’s 274.2 million shares, the trading value rose by 116.55 per cent to N8.3 billion from N3.8 billion, while the number of deals decreased by 6.87 per cent to 4,965 deals from 5,331 deals.
