Stock Investors Gain N301bn Amid 30% Drop in Volume of Trades

By Dipo Olowookere

A renewed buying pressure sustained the gains on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday as the trading platform further closed higher by 1.06 per cent.

Unlike the previous session, the mood of stock investors was upbeat yesterday, resulting in a higher number of price gainers than price losers. A total of 27 equities ended in the green territory, while 11 equities finished in the danger zone.

This was because of the growth posted by the major sectors of the market except for the energy space, which lost 0.30 per cent. The banking counter grew by 1.22 per cent, the consumer goods index rose by 0.93 per cent, while the insurance and industrial goods sectors gained 0.42 per cent each.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) expanded by 559.91 points to 53,151.32 points from 52,591.41 points, while the market capitalisation climbed higher by N301 billion to N28.654 trillion from N28.353 trillion.

Business Post reports that the volume of trades depreciated by 30.40 per cent on Thursday to 266.2 million units from N382.5 million units, the number of trades also fell by 7.11 per cent to 5,501 deals from 5,922 deals, while the value of trades appreciated by 20.81 per cent to N5.1 billion from N4.2 billion.

A breakdown revealed that Transcorp recorded the highest trading volume with 47.7 million units valued at N60.1 million, Access Holdings exchanged 25.3 million units worth N248.3 million, GTCO traded 20.7 million units worth N481.1 million, Jaiz Bank sold 16.4 million units for N13.2 million, while Universal Insurance transacted 16.3 million units valued at N3.3 million.

On the price movement index, Industrial and Medical Gases was the best-performing stock of the session as its value rose by 10.00 per cent to N11.00, Champion Breweries appreciated by 9.94 per cent to N3.76, Linkage Assurance grew by 9.09 per cent to 60 kobo, Livestock Feeds improved by 7.35 per cent to N1.46, while Lafarge Africa jumped by 6.23 per cent to N28.15.

However, the worst-performing stock was NPF Microfinance Bank after it depleted by 9.90 per cent to N1.82, UAC Nigeria declined by 9.69 per cent to N11.65, Academy Press fell by 9.59 per cent to N1.32, Learn Africa went down by 8.89 per cent to N2.05, while Royal Exchange deflated by 5.26 per cent to N1.08.