It was a positive start for the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited as the first trading session in February ended with a 0.13 per cent gain on Monday.
The upward trend was helped by the buying interest in the energy sector, which marginally closed higher yesterday by 0.02 per cent, according to data from the bourse.
The session was characterised by profit-taking but this did not affect the general outcome of the local stock market.
Business Post reports that the consumer goods index fell by 0.61 per cent, the banking counter depreciated by 0.40 per cent, and the insurance and industrial goods sectors shrank by 0.10 per cent, respectively.
The All-Share Index (ASI) was up during the trading day by 134.18 points to 104,630.30 points from 104,496.12 points and the market capitalisation increased by N83 billion to N64.792 trillion from N64.709 trillion.
The duo of Beta Glass and Presco gained 10.00 per cent each to quote at N78.65 and N643.50 apiece, Okomu Oil jumped by 9.99 per cent to N537.20, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills improved by 9.98 per cent to N66.65, and Chellaram grew by 9.95 per cent to N7.18.
On the flip side, University Press shrank by 10.00 per cent to N5.04, Omatek declined by 9.88 per cent to 73 Kobo, SCOA Nigeria slumped by 9.83 per cent to N3.67, Lasaco Assurance lost 8.33 per cent to close at N2.75, and NGX Group plunged by 8.14 per cent to N27.10.
At the close of business, there were 21 stocks on the price gainers’ table and 35 stocks on the price losers’ chart, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
A total of 510.6 million shares worth N13.3 billion were traded in 14,611 deals on Monday versus the 1.3 billion shares valued at N15.4 billion transacted in 14,540 deals last Friday, implying a growth in the number of deals by 0.49 per cent and a decline in the trading volume and value by 59.64 per cent and 13.64 per cent, respectively.
FBN Holdings was the busiest stock yesterday with 84.0 million units sold for N2.5 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 54.5 million units for N2.7 billion, Universal Insurance transacted 32.6 million units worth N21.0 million, UBA traded 31.6 million units valued at N1.2 billion, and Fidelity Bank traded 19.5 million units worth N377.9 million.