By Dipo Olowookere
After being in the dungeon for three consecutive trading sessions, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited got back into winning ways on Monday with a 0.64 per cent rise.
The rebound was influenced by strong investor sentiment after the local bourse finished with 31 appreciating stocks and 17 depreciating stocks, representing a positive market breadth index.
DAAR Communications and Ikeja Hotels outperformed during the first trading session of the week after chalking up 10.00 per cent each to sell for 66 Kobo, and N7.70, respectively. Seplat appreciated by 9.99 per cent to trade at N5,738.20, PZ Cussons jumped by 9.90 per cent to N21.65, and Champion Breweries rose by 9.65 per cent to N3.75.
On the flip side, Regency Alliance shed 8.20 per cent to close at 56 Kobo, Secure Electronic Technology depreciated by 6.45 per cent to 58 Kobo, C&I Leasing fell by 5.01 per cent to N3.60, Omatek plunged by 4.55 per cent to 63 Kobo, and Deap Capital shed 3.82 per cent to sell for N1.26.
Business Post reports that apart from the industrial goods space, which weakened by 0.04 per cent during the session, every other sector closed higher yesterday.
The energy counter improved by 4.43 per cent, the insurance index appreciated by 1.07 per cent, the banking sector grew by 0.96 per cent, and the consumer goods space rose by 0.23 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 624.52 points to 98,694.80 points from 98,070.28 points and the market capitalisation went up by N379 billion to N59.804 trillion from the N59.425 trillion it closed last Friday.
A total of 405.0 million equities worth N27.6 billion were transacted in 8,281 deals on Monday compared with the 358.9 million equities valued at N12.0 billion traded in 6,719 deals in the previous trading session, indicating an improvement in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 12.85 per cent, 130.00 per cent, and 23.25 per cent, respectively.
The most active stock for the session was UBA with 138.2 million units sold for N3.6 billion, Sterling Holdings transacted 39.6 million units worth N193.0 million, Access Holdings traded 30.0 million units valued at N598.9 million, Nigerian Breweries exchanged 23.4 million units worth N654.8 million, and FCMB traded 20.2 million units valued at N169.4 million.