Renewed Buying Interest Lifts Nigerian Exchange by 0.09%

By Dipo Olowookere

A 0.09 per cent appreciation was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday as a result of renewed buying interest in local stocks.

This was mainly from the banking and industrial goods sectors despite pockets of selling pressure from the other major sectors of the bourse.

The banking index appreciated by 0.57 per cent, the industrial goods space improved by 0.09 per cent, and the energy counter went up by 0.05 per cent.

However, the insurance sector depreciated on the last trading session of the week by 0.51 per cent, and the consumer goods counter deflated by 0.03 per cent.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 86.29 points to settle at 99,221.14 points versus Thursday’s 99,134.85 points, and the market capitalisation grew by N49 billion to close at N56.128 trillion compared with the previous day’s N56.079 trillion.

Business Post reports that the NGX recorded 23 price gainers and 17 price losers yesterday, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.

Chams rose by 10.00 per cent to N1.54, Ecobank appreciated by 8.41 per cent to N23.85, International Energy Insurance gained 6.99 per cent to sell for N1.53, Caverton soared by 6.92 per cent to N1.39, and Omatek climbed by 6.90 per cent to 62 Kobo.

On the flip side, Royal Exchange lost 9.68 per cent to trade at 56 Kobo, Prestige Assurance waned by 9.09 per cent to 50 Kobo, Veritas Kapital depreciated by 8.70 per cent to 63 Kobo, Universal Insurance eased by 5.71 per cent to 33 Kobo, and Fidelity Bank dropped 5.64 per cent to N9.20.

The activity level on Friday was high as investors bought and sold 388.0 million stocks valued at N7.4 billion in 7,106 deals versus the 309.8 million stocks worth N5.4 billion traded in 6,765 deals in the previous session, implying a rise in the trading volume, value, and the number of deals by 25.24 per cent, 37.04 per cent, and 5.04 deals, respectively.

With a turnover of 81.0 million units valued at N1.4 billion, Access Holdings closed the trading day as the most traded share by volume yesterday, followed by Zenith Bank with 43.2 million units worth N1.4 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 35.0 million units valued at N327.0 million, Oando exchanged 33.8 million units worth N506.0 million, and Nigerian Breweries sold 32.5 million units for N908.2 million.