By Dipo Olowookere
A 0.50 per cent growth was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday despite a report from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) that inflation in October 2024 increased by 33.88 per cent.
The stats office attributed the spike in the average prices of goods and services last month to a rise in the price of food items at the market as food inflation was at 39.16 per cent.
However, investors were not bothered about this as they increased their holdings in equities, resulting in an increase in the market capitalisation of Customs Street by N296 billion yesterday to N59.215 trillion from N58.919 trillion.
In the same vein, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up on the last trading session of the week by 489.21 points to 97,722.28 points from the 97,233.07 points it ended a day earlier.
It was observed that all the key sectors of the market ended in the green territory yesterday, the insurance counter rising by 2.16 per cent, the industrial goods space expanding by 1.70 per cent, the energy index growing by 1.32 per cent, the banking sector gaining 0.72 per cent and the consumer goods space increasing by 0.63 per cent.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment was strong after the bourse finished with 31 appreciating shares and 20 depreciating shares, representing a positive market breadth index.
Eunisell and Flour Mills gained 10.00 per cent each on Friday to sell for N11.99, and N78.65 apiece, John Holt jumped by 9.97 per cent to N7.72, Consolidated Hallmark increased by 9.94 per cent to N1.88, and Sunu Assurances rose by 9.68 per cent to N2.72.
On the flip side, Deap Capital declined by 9.17 per cent to N1.09, Ikeja Hotel retreated by 8.54 per cent to N7.50, DAAR Communications slumped by 6.45 per cent to 58 Kobo, Universal Insurance contracted by 5.88 per cent to 32 Kobo, and Fidson slipped by 5.69 per cent to N14.10.
A total of 295.2 million shares valued at N6.8 billion were traded in 8,433 deals on Friday versus the 291.5 million shares worth N7.8 billion transacted in 7,931 deals on Thursday, representing a decline in the trading volume by 1.27 per cent, and a surge in the trading value and number of deals by 12.82 per cent and 6.33 per cent, respectively.
Access Holdings maintained its topmost position on the activity log with a turnover of 33.3 million stocks valued at N826.5 million, Zenith Bank transacted 30.3 million shares worth N1.3 billion, Consolidated Hallmark sold 20.1 million equities for N36.8 million, United Capital traded 19.1 million shares worth N327.8 million, and Sunu Assurance exchanged 13.4 million equities valued at N35.2 million.