The bulls remained on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday, inspiring a further 0.27 per cent growth on the back of sustained buying pressure.
This was amid profit-taking in Nigerian stocks activities by some investors, which caused the energy space to lose 0.47 per cent and the commodity index to close lower by 0.24 per cent.
The losses were offset by the other sectors, with the banking counter rising by 0.65 per cent, the industrial goods sector up by 0.47 per cent, the consumer goods industry up by 0.38 per cent, and the insurance segment up by 0.27 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 395.51 points to 145,323.87 points from 144,928.36 points and the market capitalisation increased by N253 billion to N92.629 trillion from the previous day’s N92.376 trillion.
Guinness Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to trade at N198.00, NCR Nigeria improved by 9.98 per cent to N72.70, NGX Group appreciated by 9.96 per cent to N61.80, Multiverse grew by 9.95 per cent to N11.05, and SAHCO jumped by 9.74 per cent N88.45.
On the flip side, Veritas Kapital lost 4.47 per cent to finish at N1.71, Lasaco Assurance depleted by 3.77 per cent to N2.55, Prestige Assurance depreciated by 3.03 per cent to N1.60, Royal Exchange dropped 2.56 per cent to N1.90, and Ecobank shrank by 1.88 per cent to N34.00.
At the close of business, 30 stocks were on the advancers’ chart and 16 stocks ended on the decliners’ chart, indicating a positive market breadth index and strong investor sentiment.
A total of 2.3 billion equities valued at N21.0 billion were traded in 21,513 deals at midweek compared with the 606.3 million equities worth N39.7 billion transacted in 14,791 deals on Tuesday, implying a decline in the value of trades by 47.10 per cent, and a rise in the volume of trades and the number of deals by 279.35 per cent and 45.45 per cent apiece.
eTranzact led the activity log with 1.9 billion shares sold for N5.5 billion, Access Holdings transacted 54.4 million equities worth N1.1 billion, Zenith Bank traded 52.7 million stocks valued at N3.2 billion, GTCO exchanged 34.8 million shares for N3.0 billion, and Sterling Holdings traded 25.1 million equities worth N179.5 million.