NGX gains N7.97bn to halt four-day trading losses
By Kayode Tokede
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) equities market on Wednesday closed transaction with a gain of N7.97 billion to halt four days of consecutive trading losses due to investors bargain hunting in Total Nigeria and 17 others.
In summary, the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 15.31 absolute points, representing a growth of 0.04 percent to close at 37,872.55 basis points as the overall market capitalisation value gained N7.97 billion to close at N19.732 trillion.
Consequently, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses moderated to -0.1percent and -6.0per cent, respectively.
Performance across sectors was mixed – the Banking (-0.9percent) and Insurance (-0.3per cent) recorded declines, while the Industrial Goods and Consumer Goods indices closed flat. The Oil and Gas (+0.6percent) index was the sole gainer.
The positive performance was driven by price appreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Total Nigeria, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), NCR Nigeria, Capital Hotel and PZ Cussons Nigeria.
In the next trading session, analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “We anticipate a bullish performance on the domestic bourse driven by bargain hunting activities.”
The market breadth closed positive as 18 stocks gained, relative to 11 losers. Capital Hotel recorded the highest price gain of 10 percent to close at N2.64, per share. NCR Nigeria followed with a gain 9.89 percent to close at N3.00, while Unity Bank appreciated by 6.78 per cent to close at 63 kobo, per share.
Total Nigeria rose by 6.06 percent to close at N168.00, while FTN Cocoa Processors gained 5.13 percent to close at 41 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Linkage Assurance led the losers’ chart by 5.41 percent to close at 70 kobo, per share. Cornerstone Assurance followed with a decline of 5.36 percent to close at 53 kobo, while Oando lost 4.14 percent to close at N3.01, per share.
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance lost 2.86 per cent to close at 68 kobo, while Access Bank shed 2.17 percent to close at N9.00, per share.
Meanwhile, the total volume of trades fell marginally by 0.02 per cent to 197.232 million units, valued at N2.140 billion, and exchanged in 3,610 deals. Transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA) topped the activity chart with 35.922 million shares valued at N269.553 million. Access Bank followed with 28.646 million shares worth N259.577 million, while Zenith Bank traded 17.648 million shares valued at N424.695 million.
UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) traded 13.768 million shares valued at N20.035 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) transacted 10.374 million shares worth N304.516 million.
