Oando, Others Lift Stock Market by 0.27%

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited rebounded by 0.27 per cent on Friday as appetite for Oando shares soars as a result of its recent acquisition of Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC), a subsidiary of an Italian energy giant, Eni.

The All-Share Index (ASI) appreciated yesterday by 255.40 points to 95,973.45 points from the previous day’s 95,718.05 points and the market capitalisation expanded by N146 billion to settle at N55.129 trillion compared with the preceding session’s N54.983 trillion.

The duo of Oando and McNichols gained 10.00 per cent each to finish at N47.85 and 99 Kobo apiece, TotalEnergies rose by 9.98 per cent to N563.00, Cornerstone Insurance improved by 9.95 per cent to N2.32, and Deap Capital jumped by 9.80 per cent to 56 Kobo.

The Initiates lost 9.78 per cent to close at N2.03, FTN Cocoa depleted by 5.00 per cent to N1.90, Cutix crashed by 4.91 per cent to N3.10, International Breweries weakened by 4.44 per cent to N4.30, and Universal Insurance dropped 3.13 per cent to quote at 31 Kobo.

A total of 32 shares finished on the gainers’ chart during the session and 11 shares finished on the losers’ table, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

Business Post reports that the energy index went up by 3.55 per cent, the insurance counter increased by 2.05 per cent, and the banking space grew by 0.88 per cent, while the consumer goods sector depreciated by 0.54 per cent, with the industrial goods sector down by 0.07 per cent.

Investors traded 327.3 million shares valued at N4.6 billion in 7,351 deals compared with the 393.6 million shares worth N5.6 billion transacted in 8,243 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 16.85 per cent, 22.03 per cent and 10.82 per cent, respectively.

Closing the session as the most active stock was Access Holdings with 36.9 million units valued at N716.3 million, Veritas Kapital exchanged 27.7 million units worth N34.1 million, FCMB transacted 24.7 million units for N187.4 million, DAAR Communications sold 18.8 million units for N8.1 million, and United Capital traded 16.8 million units worth N329.8 million.