By Dipo Olowookere
Renewed interests in banking and industrial goods stocks rejuvenated the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.39 per cent on Monday. The equity market witnessed the first uptick in the last four trading sessions.
The gains recorded yesterday were majorly driven by buying interests in GTCO, Zenith Bank, Union Bank, BUA Cement and eight others.
Business Post reports that the banking and industrial goods sectors closed higher during the session by 0.52 per cent and 1.89 per cent, respectively.
However, the insurance space lost 2.61 per cent, the energy index fell by 0.34 per cent, and the consumer goods counter dropped 0.11 per cent, mainly due to contractions in the prices of MTN Nigeria, Oando, UBA, FBN Holdings, Champion Breweries, NEM Insurance and 11 others.
The All-Share Index (ASI) expanded on the first trading session of the week by 162.70 points to 49,189.32 points from 49,026.62 points as the market capitalisation increased by N87 billion to N26.532 trillion from N26.445 trillion.
The highest price riser for the day was Multiverse, which grew by 9.93 per cent to N3.10, followed by FCMB, which improved by 8.02 per cent to N3.50. Union Bank rose by 7.83 per cent to N6.20, Japaul expanded by 7.41 per cent to 29 Kobo, and NGX Group chalked up 5.88 per cent to settle at N18.00.
However, the heaviest price decliner yesterday was Academy Press, which fell by 10.00 per cent to N1.53 and was trailed by NEM Insurance, which declined by 8.91 per cent to N4.91. Neimeth went down by 8.33 per cent to N1.43, Champion Breweries lost 7.86 per cent to N3.40 as Chams dropped 7.41 per cent to trade at 25 Kobo.
The local stock market was relatively quiet yesterday as investors focused on the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), which began in the day.
The outcome of the deliberations will be known today, and the Governor of the CBN, Mr Godwin Emefiele, is expected to announce the new interest rate.
A total of 119.3 million shares worth N854.8 million were transacted in 3,580 deals on Monday compared with the 169.2 million shares worth N3.2 billion traded in 3,206 deals last Friday, indicating an increase in the number of deals by 11.67 per cent and a decline in the trading volume and value by 29.49 per cent and 73.22 per cent, respectively.
Courteville sold the highest number of shares yesterday, 24.4 million units valued at N11.0 million, followed by FCMB with 20.0 million units worth N69.4 million. Zenith Bank traded 8.9 million shares valued at N177.1 million, Transcorp exchanged 5.9 million stocks worth N6.2 million, and UBA traded 5.9 million equities valued at N42.6 million.
