Stock Investors’ Portfolios Swell by N43bn on Week’s Last Trading Session

By Dipo Olowookere

The last trading session on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a positive note on Friday as it closed higher by 015 per cent.

Bargain-hunting in some defensive and penny stocks contributed to the improvement in the outcome of the domestic bourse as it increased stock investors’ portfolios at the close of business.

According to data from the exchange, the market capitalisation jumped by N43 billion to N28.417 trillion from N28.374 trillion and the All-Share Index (ASI) expanded by 78.50 points to 52,187.93 points from 52,109.43 points.

Investors were attracted to financial stocks yesterday, resulting in the insurance sector rising by 3.26 per cent and the banking index growing by 1.26 per cent.

Also, the industrial goods sector appreciated by 0.01 per cent, while the energy counter depreciated by 0.97 per cent, and the consumer goods decreased by 0.09 per cent.

Tantalizers and FTN Cocoa closed the session as the best-performing equities during the trading day after they improved their value by 10.00 per cent each to settle at 22 Kobo and 44 Kobo, respectively.

NCR Nigeria chalked up 9.96 per cent to close at N3.09, Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 9.73 per cent to N2.03, and Caverton increased by 9.52 per cent to N1.15.

The worst-performing stock was Ardova due to profit-taking, which took off 9.84 per cent from its share price as it closed at N20.15. CWG lost 8.88 per cent to end at N1.54, Transcorp declined by 5.71 per cent to N2.64, May & Baker slumped by 4.76 per cent to N4.00, and Wema Bank slipped by 3.61 per cent to N4.00.

Business Post reports that investor sentiment was very strong on Friday after the market breadth index was positive, with 33 price gainers and 12 price losers.

The level of activity improved yesterday as investors transacted 810.8 per cent shares valued at N8.2 billion in 5,313 as against the 334.2 million shares worth N5.2 billion transacted in 5,350 deals on Thursday, representing a decline of 0.69 per cent in the number of deals, a 142.61 per cent increase in the volume of transactions, and a 57.69 per cent in the value of trades.