By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading session at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited after the holidays ended on a positive note on Wednesday with a further 0.98 per cent increase buoyed by Wema Bank, Okomu Oil and 29 others.
Wema Bank and Okomu Oil appreciated by 10.00 per cent each yesterday to settle at N3.85 and N161.70 respectively. Nigerian Breweries gained 9.98 per cent to sell for N62.80, Presco rose by 9.97 per cent to N157.70, while Eterna improved by 9.97 per cent to N6.62.
Business Post reports that 27 stocks closed bearish during the session and were led by Oando, which lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N5.67. Trans-Nationwide Express fell by 9.88 per cent to 73 kobo, Axa Mansard declined by 7.79 per cent to N2.25, Ikeja Hotel depreciated by 7.14 per cent to N1.30, while Cutix dropped 6.15 per cent to quote at N2.29.
During the trading day, the trading volume reduced by 89.55 per cent to 669.3 million units from 6.4 billion units, the trading value went down by 80.19 per cent to N6.0 billion from N30.2 billion, while the number of deals went up by 13.69 per cent to 7,251 deals from 6,378 deals.
Union Bank was the most traded stock as it sold 263.7 million units valued at N1.7 billion in a cross-deal, Transcorp exchanged 74.1 million units worth N86.7 million, AIICO Insurance transacted 31.0 million units for N24.7 million, Chams traded 28.9 million units worth N6.7 million, while Access Holdings sold 23.8 million units valued at N229.5 million.
The consumer goods and the industrial goods sectors were bullish on Wednesday as they appreciated by 3.30 per cent and 2.97 per cent respectively, while the insurance, energy and banking counters depreciated by 3.77 per cent, 1.37 per cent and 0.98 per cent apiece.
However, at the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 487.47 points to 50,126.41 points from 49,638.94, while the market capitalisation rose by N263 billion to N27.024 trillion from N26.761 trillion.
Adedapo Adesanya 
Modupe Gbadeyanka