By Dipo Olowookere
The positive momentum seen at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in the past few trading session continued on Wednesday with a further 0.26 per cent growth.
Nigerian stocks have recently witnessed renewed investor interest and have maintained an upright posture for the fourth straight trading day.
Yesterday, it received a fresh boost with the addition of another member, Haldane McCall, just a month after Aradel Holdings joined the fold.
This helped in raising the market capitalisation of the NGX at midweek by 0.28 per cent or N167 billion to close at N59.534 trillion compared with the previous day’s N59.367 trillion.
In the same vein, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased during the session by 255.17 points to finish at 98,227.50 points, in contrast to the 97,972.33 points it ended a day earlier.
Business Post reports that the energy counter came under selling pressure on Wednesday, leading to a decline of 0.09 per cent, but this did not affect the outcome of the market.
This was because the consumer goods index appreciated by 1.09 per cent, the insurance and the industrial goods gained 0.78 per cent each, and the banking space appreciated by 0.06 per cent.
Austin Laz and Tantalizers closed higher by 10.00 per cent each to sell for N2.20 and 99 Kobo, respectively, Lafarge Africa improved by 9.98 per cent to N55.65, Honeywell Flour advanced by 9.95 per cent to N4.53, and Eunisell gained 9.94 per cent to trade at N15.93.
On the flip side, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills and RT Briscoe lost 10.00 per cent each to quote at N33.75 and N2.61, respectively, Multiverse depreciated by 9.43 per cent to N7.20, DAAR Communications slipped by 7.46 per cent to 62 Kobo, and McNichols slumped by 5.41 per cent to N1.40.
At the close of transactions, 38 equities ended in the price gainers’ group and 27 equities landed in the price losers’ territory, representing a positive market breadth index and bullish investor sentiment.
It was a busy day at the stock exchange during the session as the trading volume, value, and number of deals soared by 10.93 per cent, 32.83 per cent, and 9.13 per cent, respectively.
The bourse recorded a turnover of 370.5 million shares worth N8.5 billion in 10,026 deals versus the 334.0 million shares worth N6.4 billion transacted in 9,187 deals on Tuesday.
The newcomer, Haldane McCall, was the busiest yesterday after trading 39.6 million stocks valued at N167.1 million, Access Holdings exchanged 23.0 million equities for N547.2 million, UBA sold 22.5 million shares worth N752.2 million, Lafarge Africa transacted 19.1 million stocks valued at N1.1 billion, and Guinea Insurance traded 16.2 million equities worth N8.3 million.
Adedapo Adesanya