Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited were bullish on Thursday as bargain-hunting dominated the landscape.
Investors renewed their confidence in Nigerian stocks during the session, leading to a last-minute rebound by 0.16 per cent. This was because, at midday, it was looking like the stock exchange would extend its loss for another trading session until the demand for Seplat, GTCO and other equities brought back the bulls.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) moved up by 109.46 points to 66,548.99 points from 66,439.53 points, as the market capitalisation grew by N60 billion to N36.423 trillion from N36.363 trillion.
The energy space appreciated by 5.42 per cent yesterday, and the banking counter improved by 0.33 per cent. But the consumer goods index shed 1.14 per cent, the insurance sector went down by 0.38 per cent, and the industrial goods counter dropped 0.01 per cent.
The best-performing stock on Thursday was NGX Group, which boasted its value by 10.00 per cent to N26.40, Seplat rose by 9.95 per cent to N1,837.00, Trans-Nationwide Express grew by 9.38 per cent to N1.05, University Press gained 9.32 per cent to close at N2.58, and ABC Transport appreciated by 8.64 per cent to 88 Kobo.
After losing 10.00 per cent, Multiverse ended the trading session as the worst-performing stock to close at N2.70, NASCON shed 9.81 per cent to N50.55, Honeywell Flour fell by 8.11 per cent to N3.40, May and Baker depreciated by 7.27 per cent to N5.10, and Jaiz Bank declined by 6.83 per cent to N1.50.
The market breadth index was positive yesterday after the bourse ended with 31 price gainers and 19 price losers, indicating a strong investor sentiment.
A total of 621.0 million stocks valued at N7.2 billion were transacted in 7,972 deals, in contrast to the 637.2 million stocks valued at N7.8 billion traded in 10,033 deals on Wednesday, implying a decline in the trading volume, value, and the number of deals by 2.54 per cent, 7.69 per cent, and 20.54 per cent, respectively.
Business Post reports that Sterling Holdings ended the day as the busiest, selling 161.0 million equities for N531.4 million, Transcorp exchanged 135.7 million shares valued at N847.5 million, Fidelity Bank traded 57.6 million stocks worth N403.3 million, FTN Cocoa transacted 47.2 million shares worth N97.4 million, and Dangote Sugar traded 28.9 million equities valued at N1.6 billion.
