By Dipo Olowookere
The last trading session of the week ended on a positive note on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday by 0.26 per cent.
It was observed that sustained bargain-hunting by investors moved the All-Share Index (ASI) higher by 258.96 points during the session to 99,448.91 points from 99,189.95 points and raised the market capitalisation by N157 billion to N60.261 trillion from N60.104 trillion.
The sectorial performance showed that all the major sectors of the market ended in the green territory yesterday, with the insurance index appreciating by 1.42 per cent.
Further, the banking sector gained 0.76 per cent, the energy counter improved by 0.13 per cent, the consumer goods space jumped by 0.11 per cent, and the industrial goods industry chalked up 0.07 per cent.
Investor sentiment remained strong at the close of transactions, with 40 price gainers and 14 price losers, implying a positive market breadth index.
The duo of CAP and Livestock Feeds topped the advancers’ chart on Friday after their share prices went up by 10.00 per cent each to N38.50 and N3.41, respectively.
Further, Eunisell gained 9.72 per cent to trade at N3.50, May and Baker increased by 9.56 per cent to N7.45 and Royal Exchange expanded by 9.23 per cent to 71 Kobo.
Conversely, DAAR Communications lost 9.86 per cent to settle at 64 Kobo, McNichols slumped by 5.10 per cent to N1.49, FTN Cocoa declined by 4.76 per cent to N1.80, Fidelity Bank shed 2.72 per cent to N14.30, and Chams dropped 2.44 per cent to N2.00.
Business Post reports that the activity chart was mixed yesterday after the trading volume surged by 14.97 per cent, and the trading value and number of deals went down by 39.49 per cent and 4.77 per cent, respectively.
Investors bought and sold 460.9 million shares worth N9.5 billion in 8,772 deals during the session versus the 400.9 per cent shares valued at N15.7 billion that exchanged hands in 9,211 deals in the preceding session.
Chams transacted 97.7 million equities for N197.5 million, UBA traded 88.5 million shares worth N2.6 billion, Sterling Holdings traded 32.3 million stocks for N156.9 million, Access Holdings sold 28.2 million equities valued at N628.0 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 18.8 million stocks worth N753.3 million.