Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited appreciated by 0.16 per cent on Friday on the back of a strong appetite for Transcorp shares.
The company released its financial statements and the impressive numbers triggered investors to want to take a slice of the pie.
In the first half of 2021, Transcorp improved its revenue by 53 per cent to N53.3 billion from N35.0 billion in the same period of 2020, while the gross profit rose by 60 per cent to N23.5 billion from N14.7 billion, with the profit before tax increasing by 689 per cent to N7.1 billion from N0.9 billion and the profit after tax rising by 713 per cent to N6.5 billion from N0.8 billion.
These figures enticed investors, who quickly took positions in the organisation and this made Transcorp the most active stock yesterday with the sale of 159.6 million shares worth N159.8 million.
Ellah Lakes traded 26.6 million stocks for N113.2 million, Oando transacted 21.6 million stocks worth N104.7 million, GTCO traded 17.8 million equities valued at N508.8 million, while Courtville exchanged 14.5 million shares worth N3.6 million.
Business Post reports that the rush for Transcorp stocks at the market yesterday pushed its value higher by 9.68 per cent to N1.02.
Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 9.24 per cent to N1.30, NAHCO gained 6.09 per cent to trade at N2.44, Honeywell Flour improved by 5.00 per cent to N1.68, while Oando rose by 2.95 per cent to N4.89.
On the flip side, Learn Africa finished the session on top of the losers’ chart after its value went down by 10.00 per cent to N1.35.
Ardova depreciated by 9.44 per cent to N16.30, Axa Mansard Insurance dropped 8.25 per cent to sell at 89 kobo, Sunu Assurance reduced by 8.16 per cent to 45 kobo, while Livestock Feeds depreciated by 6.93 per cent to N2.15.
At the close of business, the volume of shares transacted by investors increased by 48.92 per cent to 387.1 million from 260.0 million, while the value rose by 92.53 per cent to N3.8 billion from N2.0 billion, with the number of deals declining by 5.53 per cent to 4,700 deals from 4,975 deals.
A look at the performance indicators of the exchange on Friday signified that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 62.26 points to 38,547.08 points from 38,484.82 points, while the market capitalisation went up by N33 billion to N20.084 trillion from N20.051 trillion.
It was observed that improvement in the market performance was due to the rise in the industrial goods and banking sectors by 0.41 per cent and 0.36 per cent respectively.
However, the insurance counter depreciated by 2.94 per cent, the oil/gas sector went down by 0.15 per cent, while the consumer goods space declined by 0.08 per cent.
