Nigeria’s Stock Exchange up 0.04% on Sustained Buying Interest

By Dipo Olowookere

Sustained buying interest kept the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in the green territory by 0.04 per cent on Wednesday despite the mounting pressure on the Naira in the foreign exchange (FX) market.

Business Post reports that Nigeria’s stock exchange remained attractive to investors because of its performance this year, posting a year-to-date gain of 31.42 per cent.

During the midweek session, the banking index went up by 0.74 per cent, the insurance sector grew by 0.27 per cent and the energy counter appreciated by 0.22 per cent, while the industrial goods space went down by 0.06 per cent, with the consumer goods sector closing flat.

At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 27.11 points to finish at 67,353.23 points compared with the previous day’s 67,326.12 points, and the market capitalisation rose by N15 billion to end at N37.004 trillion versus Tuesday’s value of N36.989 trillion.

The activity chart was mixed yesterday as the trading volume expanded by 5.19 per cent, while the trading value declined by 9.62 per cent and the number of deals of dropped by 8.38 per cent.

A total of 397.6 million shares worth N4.7 billion were traded in 6,165 deals compared with the 378.0 million shares worth N5.2 billion traded in 6,729 deals a day earlier.

Wema Bank ended the session as the most active stock after it transacted 89.0 million units valued at N418.2 million, Access Holdings transacted 35.6 million units worth N598.5 million, UBA exchanged 35.2 million units for N659.1 million, Fidelity Bank sold 33.4 million units for N279.5 million, and GTCO traded 23.4 million units valued at N828.5 million.

Guinea Insurance was the biggest price gainer as it added 9.09 per cent to its value to close at 24 Kobo, Eterna grew by 6.86 per cent to N14.80, Unity Bank chalked up 5.49 per cent to trade at 96 Kobo, Jaiz Bank appreciated by 5.26 per cent to N1.60, and Omatek rose by 4.55 per cent to 46 Kobo.

CWG ended the day as the biggest price loser after it shed 10.00 per cent to close at N8.55, RT Briscoe lost 8.77 per cent to sell for 52 Kobo, Africa Prudential fell by 7.14 per cent to N6.50, FTN Cocoa declined by 6.29 per cent to N1.64, and Neimeth slumped by 6.06 per cent to N1.55.