By Dipo Olowookere
The local stock exchange appreciated by 0.17 per cent on Wednesday on renewed bargain-hunting in industrial goods and insurance equities.
The insurance sector grew in the midweek session by 1.58 per cent, the industrial goods space appreciated by 0.95 per cent and the consumer goods counter rose by 0.01 per cent, while the banking index depreciated by 0.27 per cent, with the energy sector closing flat.
At the close of trading activities, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited increased by 115.87 points to 67,100.49 points from 66,984.62 points, and the market capitalisation expanded by N64 billion to N36.865 trillion from N36.801 trillion.
Investor sentiment was slightly bullish yesterday after the market breadth index ended in the positive region with 18 price gainers and 17 price losers.
Thomas Wyatt topped the gainers’ chart after it rose by 9.81 per cent to N2.35, DAAR Communications improved by 9.52 per cent to 23 Kobo, Cornerstone Insurance appreciated by 6.45 per cent to N1.65, Transcorp increased by 5.41 per cent to N6.43, and Union Bank gained 5.30 per cent to trade at N6.95.
Conversely, Omatek topped the losers’ chart after it depreciated by 8.33 per cent to close at 44 Kobo, Oando shed 8.08 per cent to N9.10, Africa Prudential declined by 7.80 per cent to N6.50, Caverton lost 6.92 per cent to finish at N1.48, and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance dropped 6.25 per cent to sell at N1.05.
The activity chart was mixed on Wednesday, as the trading value went down by 42.31 per cent, the number of deals crashed by 13.25 per cent, while the trading volume surged by 59.40 per cent.
A total of 410.3 million shares valued at N4.5 billion exchanged hands in 5,637 deals during the trading day versus the 257.4 million shares worth N7.8 billion traded in 6,498 deals on Tuesday.
Neimeth led the activity table yesterday for selling 163.2 million equities worth N259.5 million, Access Holdings exchanged 39.0 million stocks for N611.8 million, Zenith Bank transacted 32.3 million shares valued at N1.0 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 23.5 million shares worth N194.2 million, and UBA exchanged 19.8 million equities for N341.2 million.
