By Dipo Olowookere
The stock price of University Press Plc witnessed a 20.59 per cent rise on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) last week.
In the four-day trading sessions, as a result of the public holiday observed on Friday, October 1, 2021, the value of the company’s equities closed at N1.23 in contrast to N1.02 it traded a week earlier.
The firm topped the gainers’ chart, which had 33 members last week, higher than 28 of the preceding week.
Dangote Cement appreciated in the week by 14.29 per cent to N280.00, Presco gained 9.93 per cent to sell for N80.25, Skyway Aviation rose by 9.88 per cent to N4.45, while Pharma Deko grew by 9.81 per cent to N2.35.
On the flip side, there were 22 price losers, lower than 23 of the earlier week and on top of the chart was Axa Mansard, which depreciated by 29.82 per cent to N2.33.
Julius Berger went down by 10.00 per cent to N24.30, Vanleer (Grief Nigeria) declined by 9.92 per cent to N5.45, Chams lost 8.70 per cent to 21 kobo, while Japaul decreased by 8.33 per cent to 44 kobo.
In the week, Business Post observed that a total of 100 equities traded flat, lower than 104 equities recorded in the previous week.
In the terms of the general outcome of the market, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the total value of shares on the exchange appreciated by 3.23 per cent and 3.57 per cent to close the week at 40,221.17 points and N20.956 trillion respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of the insurance index, which fell by 7.58 per cent, while the ASeM and growth indices closed flat.
In the week, a total of 2.2 billion shares worth N16.2 billion in 14,377 deals were traded by investors in contrast to the 1.3 billion shares worth N13.9 billion transacted in 16,745 deals a week earlier.
As usual, financial stocks were the most active with 778.4 million units valued at N5.6 billion traded in 7,183 deals, contributing 35.60 per cent and 34.55 per cent to the total trading volume and value respectively.
It was followed by services shares with a turnover of 775.7 million units valued at N2.9 billion transacted in 416 deals, while consumer goods equities recorded 448.7 million units worth N4.0 billion in 2,257 deals.
A breakdown showed that Transcorp Hotels, Honeywell Flour and FBN Holdings were the most traded stocks with 1.5 billion units valued at N6.9 billion in 1,017 deals, accounting for 68.33 per cent and 42.91 per cent of the total trading volume and value respectively.
