By David Akinmola
Following gains recorded by many blue-chip stocks, especially BUA Foods and Eterna Plc, transactions on the floor of Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) reversed loses, to closed in an upbeat yesterday, with investors’ wealth soaring by N505 billion.
At the close of trading, market capitalisation of listed equities increased by 0.75 per cent to close at N67.684 trillion from N67.179 trillion reported the previous day.
The all-share index (ASI) also appreciated by 938.53 basis points to 108,609.51 points from 107,670.98 points traded on Tuesday.
The upturn was triggered by gains recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are BUA Foods, Eterna, African Prudential, Honeywell Flour mills, NASCON, Sunu Assurance and United Capital.
Reacting to the market performance, analysts at Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “With the market still trading bullish as market participants digest the latest macroeconomic data for the country, we see this persisting in tomorrow’s session as we see no catalysts on the horizon that would alter the prevailing sentiment in the market.”
On the price movement chart, BUAFood led gainers chart with a 10 per cent to close at N410.50 kobo while RTBriscoe followed with a gain of 6.91 per cent to close at N2.63 kobo. Eterna Plc gained 6.25 per cent to close at N42.50 kobo. SUNU Assurance gained 6.13 per cent to close at N6.92 kobo, Veritas Kapital also added 6.03 per cent to close at N1.23 kobo.
However, UPL and International General Insurance topped losers chart, declining by 9.8 per cent each to close at N4.60 kobo and N2.21 kobo respectively. Union Dicon trailed with a drop of 9.52 per cent to close at N6.65 kobo.
Mcnichols dipped by 8.57 per cent to close at N1.60 kobo, Daar Communications was also down by 7.25 per cent to close at 64 kobo.
Sectoral performance was largely positive, with the insurance, consumer goods, and oil and gas sectors posting gains of 0.29 per cent, 4.16 per cent, and 0.03 per cent, respectively. However, the Banking sector dipped slightly by 0.61 per cent, while the industrial and commodity sectors remained flat.
Volume of trades declined by 65.001 million representing 15.9 per cent as investors traded 343.718 million shares valued at N8.631 billion in 12970 deals against 408.719 million shares cost N11.261 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 14174 deals.
Transactions in the shares of AccessCorp led market activities with 65.095 million shares valued at N1.8 billion.
Fidelity Bank followed with account of 50.687 million shares valued at N962.543 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 22.09 million shares worth N1.118 billion. Sterling Bank exchanged 13.168 million shares valued at N78.062:million while Wapic Insurance traded 13.076 million shares cost N37.934 million.
