By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited reversed its previous day’s loss with a 0.62 per cent growth on Tuesday following bargain-hunting activities by investors.
The improvement recorded by Customs Street yesterday was largely triggered by the buying pressure witnessed in the energy and industrial goods sectors, which marginally closed higher by 0.01 per cent each.
They overshadowed the profit-taking seen in the other key sectors of the market, as the banking index fell by 0.51 per cent, the insurance counter depreciated by 0.42 per cent, and the consumer goods space lost 0.18 per cent.
Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 596.95 points to settle at 96,802.80 points compared with Monday’s 96,205.85 points and the market capitalisation advanced by N343 billion to close at N55.626 trillion, in contrast to the preceding day’s N55.283 trillion.
Investor sentiment remained strong yesterday after the bourse finished with 31 price gainers and 19 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index.
SFS REIT gained 9.98 per cent during the session to close at N163.15, RT Briscoe jumped by 9.93 per cent to N3.10, Caverton expanded by 9.77 per cent to N1.91, McNichols rose by 8.89 per cent to N1.47 and Custodian Investment appreciated by 8.87 per cent to N13.50.
Conversely, Learn Africa was the worst-performing stock after it shed 9.69 per cent to trade at N3.73, The Initiates declined by 6.77 per cent to N1.79, Japaul dropped 6.67 per cent to quote at N2.52, AIICO Insurance tumbled by 4.39 per cent to N1.09, and Neimeth slumped by 4.29 per cent to N2.01.
Data revealed that investors transacted 406.2 million stocks worth N13.3 billion in 12,241 deals on Tuesday compared with the 774.4 million stocks valued at N14.7 billion traded in 10,412 deals on the first trading session of the week, representing a rise in the number of deals by 17.57 per cent, and a contraction in the trading volume and value by 47.55 per cent and 9.52 per cent, respectively.
Sitting on top of the activity table was Oando with 58.5 million shares sold for N5.5 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 30.4 million equities worth N557.7 million, Japaul traded 28.8 million stocks valued at N78.2 million, FBN Holdings transacted 20.9 million shares worth N495.6 million, and UBA sold 20.0 million equities valued at N462.6 million.