The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited maintained its upright posture on Wednesday with a further 1.50 per cent appreciation despite a drawback from the financial services industry.
At midweek, the insurance and the banking sectors depleted by 0.51 per cent and 0.42 per cent, respectively due to selling pressure as investors booked profit.
However, the losses were offset by the gains posted the others, with the industrial goods space growing by 3.45 per cent.
Further, the energy counter appreciated by 2.07 per cent, the commodity sector improved by 1.22 per cent, and the consumer goods index expanded by 0.30 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) chalked up 2,279.34 points to close at 153,736.25 points compared with Tuesday’s 151,456.91 points and the market capitalisation soared by N1.447 trillion to finish at N97.581 trillion compared with the previous day’s N96.134 trillion.
Aso Savings topped the gainers’ group on Customs Street after it boosted its price by 10.00 per cent to 55 Kobo, SAHCO jumped by 9.99 per cent to N99.05, UPDC REIT expanded by 8.16 per cent to N7.95, NASCON rose by 6.80 per cent to N110.00, and Dangote Cement surged by 6.50 per cent to N639.00.
On the flip side, The Initiates lost 5.73 per cent to close at N13.00, Legend Internet declined by 5.69 per cent to N5.80, Royal Exchange depreciated by 4.76 per cent to N2.20, Champion Breweries shrank by 4.49 per cent to N14.90, and AXA Mansard crumbled by 4.19 per cent to N16.00.
A total of 589.5 million shares valued at N24.0 billion were traded in 28,485 deals yesterday compared with the 551.9 million shares sold for N20.5 billion in 27,518 deals in the previous session, showing an improvement in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 6.81 per cent, 17.07 per cent, and 3.51 per cent, respectively.
For another trading day, Fidelity Bank led the activity led with a turnover of 94.8 million equities worth N1.9 billion, GTCO exchanged 79.5 million shares valued at N7.4 billion, Access Holdings transacted 59.4 million stocks for N1.5 billion, Zenith Bank sold 24.0 million equities worth N1.6 billion, and Jaiz Bank traded 22.4 million shares valued at N96.6 million.