By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited rebounded by 0.50 per cent on Thursday after staying with the bears for a single trading session, though investor sentiment remained weak.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was negative yesterday with 28 appreciating stocks and 29 depreciating stocks.
Vitafoam Nigeria was the best-performing equity during the trading day after it went up by 9.81 per cent to sell for N23.50, Aradel Holdings appreciated by 9.23 per cent to N517.00, FTN Cocoa rose by 7.82 per cent to N1.93, Sovereign Trust Insurance grew by 6.25 per cent to 68 Kobo, and Oando gained 5.40 per cent to quote at N65.35.
On the flip side, Prestige Assurance ended the day as the worst-performing equity after it shed 10.00 per cent to close at 81 Kobo, Unilever Nigeria lost 9.97 per cent to settle at N26.65, Austin Laz depleted by 9.96 per cent to N2.17, John Holt waned by 9.90 per cent to N8.92, and Eterna fell by 6.94 per cent to N20.80.
During the session, the energy and the consumer goods sectors went down by 0.50 per cent and 0.11 per cent, respectively.
However, the banking index improved by 0.74 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 0.23 per cent, and the industrial goods space increased by 0.15 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) jumped by 487.24 points to 97,783.81 points from the 97,296.57 points recorded in the preceding day and the market capitalisation grew by N305 billion to settle at N59.275 trillion compared with Wednesday’s closing value of N58.970 trillion.
Yesterday, the value of transactions expanded by 4.85 per cent to N10.8 billion from the N10.3 billion recorded a day earlier, as the volume of trades shrank by 23.08 per cent to 632.7 million shares from the 822.5 million shares traded at midweek and the number of deals tumbled by 10.45 per cent to 8,404 deals from the 9,385 deals achieved in the previous day.
FBN Holdings was the busiest stock at the market on Thursday with a turnover of 166.8 million units worth N4.2 billion, Haldane McCall traded 119.3 million units valued at N669.8 million, Guinea Insurance transacted 41.3 million units for N20.7 million, Cutix sold 38.5 million units worth N90.5 million, and Access Holdings exchanged 20.6 million units valued at N473.6 million.