Equities market appreciates by N11bn over investors’ bargain-hunting in Insurance, other stocks

By Kayode Tokede

The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday closed trading activities on a positive note, halting the three consecutive trading losses as investors investment up by N11 billion.

The positive performance was driven by investors’ bargain-hunting in Insurance, Oil & Gas, and Consumer Goods stocks.

Consequently, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) grew by 21.44 basis points, representing a rise of 0.06 per cent, to close at 38,874.13 basis points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value gained N11 billion to close at N20.254 trillion.

Accordingly, Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses moderated to -0.9per cent and -3.5per cent, respectively.

On sectors, the Insurance (+0.9 per cent), Oil and Gas (+0.7 per cent) and Consumer Goods (+0.1 per cent) indices gained while the Banking (-0.2 per cent) index declined. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.

The market positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Flour Mills of Nigeria, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company (NAHCO), Oando and Pharma Deko.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “In the final trading session, we expect the local bourse to extend the positive momentum as investor sentiment continues to build up.”

Furthermore, the market breadth closed positively, recording 16 gainers as against 12 losers. NAHCO recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N3.52, per share.

Pharm Deko followed with a gain of 9.55 per cent to close at N1.95 and Veritas Kapital Assurance went up 9.52 per cent to close at 23 kobo, per share.

Cornerstone Insurance up by 9.43 per cent to close at 58 kobo, while Chams appreciated by 4.76 per cent  to close at 22 kobo, per share.

On the other hand, Sovereign Trust Insurance led the losers’ chart by 4.17 per cent to close at 23 kobo, per share.  UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) followed with a decline of 3.68 per cent to close at N1.83, while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) lost 2.83 per cent to close at N5.15, per share.

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) declined 2.17 per cent to close at 90 kobo, while Prestige Assurance shed 2.08 per cent to close at 47 kobo, per share.

However, the total volume of trades fell by 19 per cent to 125.797 million units, valued at N1.266 billion, and exchanged in 2,990 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Mutual Benefits Assurance topped the activity chart with 13.715 million shares valued at N4.115 million. United Capital followed with 11.462 million shares worth N97.614 million, while GTCO traded 9.948 million shares valued at N270.928 million.

Zenith Bank traded 9.201 million shares valued at N210.477 million, while Transcorp transacted 7.573 million shares worth N6.878 million.