By Dipo Olowookere
The domestic stock market closed higher by 0.74 per cent after President Bola Tinubu swore in 46 ministers on Monday, giving investors the signal that his administration was ready to jumpstart the struggling economy.
It was like the much-awaited positive trigger the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited needed to begin another round of upward trajectory.
The bourse witnessed bargain-hunting during the session, with traders rebalancing their portfolios to partake in the anticipated price appreciation in the nearest future.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 481.32 points to 65,202.41 points from 64,721.09 points, and the market capitalisation grew by N263 billion to N35.685 trillion from N35.422 trillion.
It was observed that the market posted growth yesterday despite the 0.35 per cent loss suffered by the banking space, as the consumer goods counter expanded by 4.97 per cent, the insurance sector rose by 0.41 per cent, and the industrial goods index appreciated by 0.04 per cent, while the energy counter closed flat.
John Holt stood on top of the price advancers’ table on the first trading session of the week after it improved its value by 9.66 per cent to N1.59, SCOA Nigeria raised its price by 9.40 per cent to N1.28, BUA Foods gained 9.29 per cent to sell at N152.90, AXA Mansard soared by 6.85 per cent to N3.90, and Livestock Feeds chalked up 6.82 per cent to N1.88.
Sitting on top of the decliners’ chart on Monday was Tantalizers after its price was sliced by 10.00 per cent to 36 Kobo, Omatek was chopped off by 9.09 per cent to 30 Kobo, Jaiz Bank shrank by 7.78 per cent to N1.54, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance moderated by 7.61 per cent to 85 Kobo, and Cornerstone Insurance went down by 6.15 per cent to N1.22.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment was very strong yesterday as the market breadth index closed bullish with 31 price gainers and 15 price losers.
However, the level of activity waned after the trading volume, value and the number of deals depreciated by 56.92 per cent, 57.45 per cent, and 6.77 per cent apiece.
This was because investors transacted 231.6 million shares valued at N4.0 billion in 5,494 deals as against the 537.6 million shares valued at N9.4 billion traded in 5,893 deals last Friday.
Transcorp sold 36.8 million equities worth N159.3 million to end the day on top of the activity log, followed by Universal Insurance with the sale of 17.0 million stocks worth N3.6 million. GTCO exchanged 15.4 million shares for N563.5 million, Jaiz Bank traded 14.5 million stocks valued at N22.9 million, and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance transacted 12.8 million equities worth N10.7 million.
