The Nigerian Exchange Limited on Thursday continued its positive trading pattern, as the benchmark measurement of the exchange, the All-Share Index, inched up slightly to settle at 71,025.16.
Similarly, the market capitalisation grew marginally by 0.02 per cent or N6bn to close at N39.059tn from N39.053tn recorded on Wednesday.
The drivers of today’s market performance are primarily stocks of Oando, which dominated trading on Wednesday. Other stocks which were the toast of investors were Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc, United Bank for Africa, and Geregu Power Plc.
Market Breadth, which measures of investors’ sentiments, was negative as 24 gainers emerged in contrast to 32 losers at the close of trading.
Various sectors demonstrated mixed sentiment, with two out of the five tracked sectors closing in the red. The Banking and Oil & Gas indexes suffered the most significant setbacks, declining by 0.35 per cent and 0.18 per cent, respectively. The Industrial index closed mildly negative, while the Insurance and Consumer Goods indexes gained by 0.17 per cent and 0.31 per cent.
The gainers chart was led by the stocks of Secure Electronic Technology Plc, Deap Capital Management & Trust Plc, C&I Leasing, Northern Nigerian Flour Mills and SCOA Nigeria Plc with 10.00 per cent, 10.00 per cent, 9.95 per cent, 9,85 per cent and 9.82 per cent gains respectively. Their shares closed at N0.44, N0.33, N4.53, N21.75 and N1.23 per unit.
On the losers chart, ABC Transport led with a 10 per cent loss to close at N0.90, and ETranzact closed at N6.80 per unit as its shares lost 9.93 per cent. Paper company, Thomas Wyatt shares lost 8.95 per cent of their value to close at N3.46, Guinea Insurance’s shares lost 8.33 per cent to close at N0.22 and EllahLake lost 7.89 per cent to close at N3.50 per unit.
The volume and value drivers of the day’s trend were led chiefly by stocks of Oando Plc with over 55 million units of its shares valued at N676.637m traded in 902 deals, GTCO followed in terms of value with 18.086 million units valued at N670.401m, UBA came next with 21.492 million units worth N445.446m. Geregu Power Plc had 1.032 million units of its share valued at N371.710m exchanged in 33 deals. Zenith Bank stocks took the fifth position on the turnover chart as investors traded 10.426 million units of its shares worth N350.347m in 335 deals.
At the close of the day, Regency Assurance Plc emerged as the most traded security in terms of volume, with 104.34 million units worth N36.49m.
SOURCE: PUNCHNG
