Portfolios of Stock Market Investors Swell by N87bn

By Dipo Olowookere

For the first time this week, investor sentiment turned bullish on Wednesday on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited helped by persistent buying pressure.

This increased the portfolios of stock market investors by 0.23 per cent or N87 billion to N38.885 trillion from the N38.798 trillion it closed on Tuesday.

It was observed that traders showed renewed confidence in the market, leading to the 159.71 points added to the All-Share Index (ASI), closing at 70,773.31 points compared with the previous day’s 70,613.60 points.

Yesterday, a total of 558.3 million stocks valued at N9.8 billion exchanged hands in 6,401 deals compared with the 449.3 million stocks worth N5.5 billion traded in 7,100 deals a day earlier, implying a decline in the number of deals by 9.85 per cent, a rise in the volume of transactions by 24.27 per cent, and a surge in the value of trades by 78.18 per cent.

FBN Holdings finished the session as the most active equity after selling 209.9 million units for N4.0 billion, UBA traded 53.7 million units worth N1.1 billion, Universal Insurance exchanged 43.7 million units valued at N10.2 million, Fidelity Bank transacted 22.3 million units valued at N203.7 million, and Unity Bank sold 18.0 million units worth N16.9 million.

Apart from the consumer goods index, which fell by 0.06 per cent, every other sector ended in the green zone, with the insurance counter rising by 2.67 per cent, the industrial goods space rose by 0.87 per cent, the banking sector improved by 0.26 per cent, while the energy sector closed flat.

The market breadth index was positive yesterday as there were 28 price gainers and 25 price losers led by Caverton, which fell by 9.87 per cent to N1.37. Meyer lost 9.85 per cent to quote at N2.47, SCOA Nigeria went down by 9.60 per cent to N1.13, Thomas Wyatt declined by 8.60 per cent to N3.72, and UPDC depreciated by 8.26 per cent to N1.11.

On the flip side, Japaul gained 9.87 per cent to end at N1.67, Mecure (the latest member of the bourse) rose by 9.80 per cent to N3.25, Prestige Assurance appreciated by 9.76 per cent to 45 Kobo, Cornerstone jumped by 9.72 per cent to N1.58, and Omatek chalked up 9.62 per cent to finish at 57 Kobo.