By Dipo Olowookere
Heightened investor confidence in local stocks put the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited deeper into green territory on Thursday as it closed higher by 1.05 per cent.
This was buoyed by strong appetite for some large and mid-cap equities at the bourse, with the major sectors growing stronger apart from the industrial goods index, which waned by 0.03 per cent.
The banking space appreciated by 1.72 per cent, the insurance index improved by 1.38 per cent, the consumer goods counter went up by 0.54 per cent, and the energy space gained 0.33 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) advanced by 1,019.32 points to settle at 98,118.30 points compared with the previous day’s 97,098.98 points, and the market capitalisation expanded by N579 billion to close at N55.709 trillion, in contrast to Wednesday’s closing value of N55.130 trillion.
The trio of Unilever Nigeria, Vitafoam, and MTN Nigeria chalked up 10.00 per cent each to quote at N18.70, N19.25, and N198.00, respectively, as Okomu Oil rose by 9.99 per cent to N353.30, and Oando leapt by 9.97 per cent to N36.95.
Conversely, United Capital shed 9.94 per cent to settle at N14.50, Abbey Mortgage Bank declined by 8.05 per cent to N2.40, Sterling Holdings slumped by 5.66 per cent to N4.00, Ikeja Hotel moderated by 5.56 per cent to N6.80, and Chams dipped by 5.38 per cent to N2.11.
At the close of transactions, 33 stocks landed on the gainers’ chart and 19 stocks finished on the losers’ table, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
Business Post reports that the exchange was very busy yesterday, resulting in an improvement in the activity chart as investors traded 791.8 million shares worth N15.1 billion in 9,059 deals versus the 636.5 million shares valued at N12.8 billion transacted in 9,744 deals at the midweek session, representing a decline in the number of deals by 7.03 deals and a surge in the trading volume and value by 24.40 per cent and 17.97 per cent, respectively.
NEM Insurance ended the trading day as the most active stock with 187.5 million units valued at N1.3 billion, Access Holdings traded 116.0 million units worth N2.2 billion, GTCO transacted 109.9 million units valued at N5.1 billion, Abbey Mortgage Bnnk exchanged 50.7 million units worth N121.7 million, and UBA sold 44.6 million units for N934.4 million.