The domestic stock market reversed the previous day’s loss to close higher by 0.56 per cent on Wednesday on the back of a renewed bargain-hunting by investors, especially in the industrial goods sector.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited showed that the industrial goods space rose by 1.27 per cent. The consumer goods counter expanded by 0.74 per cent, the banking sector gained 0.48 per cent, and the commodity index improved by 0.21 per cent.
However, due to profit-taking by some market participants, the insurance industry plunged by 0.37 per cent yesterday and the energy counter depreciated by 0.01 per cent.
When trading activities closed for midweek at the Nigerian bourse, the All-Share Index (ASI) chalked up 641.63 points to settle at 114,659.11 points compared with Tuesday’s 114,017.48 points and the market capitalisation appreciated by N404 billion to finish at N72.302 trillion versus the preceding session’s N71.898 trillion.
Investor sentiment remained strong, with a positive market breadth index after Customs Street ended with 31 price gainers and 28 price losers.
The duo of ABC Transport and Beta Glass gained 10.00 per cent each to trade at N2.64 and N231.10 apiece, Berger Paints surged by 9.98 per cent to N24.80, Fidson grew by 9.91 per cent to N34.95, and Legend Internet advanced by 9.88 per cent to N6.45.
On the flip side, Abbey Mortgage Bank declined by 7.50 per cent to N5.55, NCR Nigeria weakened by 7.09 per cent to N5.50, Vitafoam Nigeria slipped by 6.64 per cent to N60.50, DAAR Communications slumped by 6.06 per cent to 62 Kobo, and Nestle Nigeria lost 5.69 per cent to N1500.00.
It was observed that the level of activity was lower than the previous session, with the trading volume, value, and number of deals down by 27.80 per cent, 24.87 per cent, and 14.35 per cent, respectively.
A total of 471.2 million equities valued at N14.2 billion were transacted in 20,538 deals during the session versus the 652.6 million equities worth N18.9 billion traded in 23,978 deals a day earlier.
The busiest stock for the day was FCMB with 40.3 million units sold for N410.2 million, UBA traded 36.6 million units worth N1.3 billion, Access Holdings exchanged 35.1 million units valued at N789.0 million, Zenith Bank transacted 28.7 million units for N1.4 billion, and Japaul traded 25.4 million units worth N50.1 million.