Renewed Bargain Lifts Hopes at Nigerian Exchange

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited came alive on Thursday after investors started to show interest again in local stocks, especially in financial equities.

At the close of trades, the domestic market finished higher by 0.11 per cent as the All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 52.52 points to settle at 49,652.25 points in contrast to the preceding day’s 49,599.73 points.

Also, the market capitalisation appreciated yesterday by N29 billion to close at N26.782 trillion as against the preceding session’s N26.753 trillion.

The banking sector grew by 1.07 per cent, the insurance space rose by 0.76 per cent, the energy index gained 0.37 per cent, the industrial goods space appreciated by 0.16 per cent, while the consumer goods sector depreciated by 0.15 per cent.

Business Post observed that investor sentiment was strong on Thursday as the bourse finished the session with 20 price gainers and nine price losers.

eTranzact topped the advancers’ chart as it improved by 9.81 per cent to N2.91, Ardova appreciated by 8.94 per cent to N13.40, Chams jumped by 7.41 per cent to 29 Kobo, FTN Cocoa expanded by 7.14 per cent to 30 Kobo, while Union Bank also increased its value by 7.14 per cent to N6.00.

On the flip side, Vitafoam lost 9.96 per cent to end at N21.25, Multiverse went down by 9.92 per cent to N2.36, Champion Breweries decreased by 4.16 per cent to N3.69, Africa Prudential contracted by 3.51 per cent to N5.50, while Honeywell Flour fell by 2.72 per cent to N2.50.

A total of 161.9 million shares worth N1.6 billion were transacted in 3,541 deals compared with the 128.9 million shares worth N1.7 billion traded in 3,426 deals on Wednesday, representing an increase in the trading volume and the number of deals by 25.55 per cent and 3.36 per cent respectively and a decline in the trading value by 2.50 per cent.

Transcorp was the busiest stock as it traded 31.0 million units for N34.5 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 28.7 million units valued at N101.7 million, Sterling Bank transacted 19.8 million units worth N29.1 million, FCMB sold 11.5 million units valued at N38.0 million, while UBA traded 9.4 million units worth N67.8 million.