By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited maintained its positive momentum on Tuesday despite closing with weak investor sentiment spurred by profit-taking in the financial services sector.
The local bourse grew further by 0.33 per cent during the trading day as result of bargain-hunting in the consumer goods and energy counters, especially in Aradel Holdings and Oando.
Business Post reports that the industrial goods space closed flat, while the insurance and banking sectors went down by 2.11 per cent and 0.78 per cent, respectively.
However, the energy index recorded a growth of 0.13 per cent and the consumer goods counter appreciated by 0.07 per cent at the close of transactions.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) closed higher by 325.80 points to settle at 98,540.93 points compared with the preceding day’s 98,215.13 points and the market capitalisation increased by N197 billion to N59.707 trillion from Monday’s N59.510 trillion.
The biggest price gainer for the session was Champion Breweries, which expanded by 9.97 per cent to quote at N3.42, Tantalizers chalked up 9.09 per cent to sell at 60 Kobo, Oando gained 7.93 per cent to N77.60, Aradel Holdings rose by 6.09 per cent to N820.00, and Eterna jumped by 4.86 per cent to N25.90.
The heaviest loss was posted by Caverton, which declined by 10.00 per cent to trade at N2.34, Tripple G fell by 9.95 per cent to finish at N1.81, C&I Leasing depleted by 9.80 per cent to N3.59, Jaiz Bank weakened by 9.21 per cent to N2.17, and Deap Capital tumbled by 9.09 per cent to N1.20.
During the session, investors transacted 286.1 million shares worth N26.8 billion in 9,650 deals versus the 305.0 million shares worth N19.8 billion traded in 8,083 deals in the previous day, implying a shortfall in the trading volume by 6.20 per cent and a rise in the trading value and the number of deals by 36.04 per cent and 19.39 per cent, respectively.
Access Holdings topped the activity chart with 46.0 million equities sold for N928.5 million, Zenith Bank traded 30.4 million shares worth N1.1 billion, Aradel Holdings exchanged 25.0 million stocks valued at N20.8 billion, UBA transacted 16.9 million shares worth N412.9 million, and Veritas Kapital traded 15.1 million equities valued at N22.7 million.