Categories: Business

Investors gain N262.8bn as local stock market hits 14yrs high

Equities trading started the week on a positive note, at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) supported by investors’ demand for BUA Cement.

The All-Share Index (ASI) rose by 0.98 per cent to close at 50,126.41 basis points amid sustained bargain hunting activity, crossing the 50,000 points psychological mark, the highest point since 06 August 2008.

Buying interest in tickers such as Okomu Oilpalm, Nigerian Breweries, Presco, Cadbury and Guinness, as their respective share prices surged by 10.00 per cent, 9.98 per cent, 9.97 per cent, 9.76 per cent and 7.53 per cent.

Hence, the year-to-date gain of the local bourse rose to 17.35 per cent.

Equities investors, therefore, earned N262.80 billion as the market capitalization closed at N27.02 trillion on Wednesday.

Given the bullish sentiment at the Exchange, market breadth was positive as 31 tickers gained relative to 26 losers.

On the performance chart, Okomu Oil palm and Wema Bank recorded the highest gains of the day having appreciated in share value by 10.0 per cent each, while Oando and TransExpress topped the losers’ list after their respective value dipped by 10.0 per cent and 9.9 per cent.

Nevertheless, performance across sub-indices tracked was largely negative except for the NGX Industrial and the NGX Consumer Goods index, which rose by 3.30 per cent and 2.97 per cent respectively. The NGX Banking index, NGX Insurance Index and the NGX Oil/Gas decreased by 0.98 per cent, 3.77 per cent and 1.37 per cent respectively.

Analysis of market activities showed that trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions declining by 80.19 per cent.

A total of 669.30 million shares valued at N5.99 billion were exchanged in 7,251 deals.

Union Bank of Nigeria was the most traded stock by volume and value at 263.65 million units and N1.66 billion, respectively.

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