By Chinwendu Obienyi
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) appear to be swinging upward amid buying interest in highly capitalised stocks.
The securities market had been on a negative run but saw its first gain (0.03 per cent) on Tuesday and sustained the buying power yesterday as the All Share Index (ASI) rose by 0.14 per cent with market capitalisation adding N30 billion to settle at N21.043 trillion. This means that investors gained N36 billion in two consecutive trading sessions.
The upturn was due to investors’ interest in Wapco, Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust (GT) Bank. Consequently, the market’s year-to-date (ytd) loss improved to -0.1 per cent.
Further analysis showed that trading activity improved as the volume and value of stocks traded grew by 38.9 and 84.2 per cent to 469.56 million units and N7.08 billion respectively, exchanged in 5,470 deals.
Reacting to the development, analysts at Afrinvest, said, “We expect corporate earnings release and dividend information to guide the direction of the market this week”.
Meanwhile, 22 stocks appreciated in value while 20 stocks depreciated. Oando Plc led the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N3.41 per share, ABC Transport followed with 9.38 per cent to close at 0.35 kobo, JapaulGold increased by 9.23 per cent to close at 0.71 kobo, with Royal Exchange Plc gaining 8.70 per cent to close at 0.25 kobo while Academy Press rose 7.89 per cent to close at 0.41 kobo.
On the other hand, Lasaco topped the losers’ chart with 9.49 per cent to close at N1.24 per share. Chip Plc was next with 8.33 per cent to close at 0.33 kobo, Cornerstone dropped 7.81 per cent to close at 0.59 kobo, Flour mill lost 6.94 per cent to close at N28.85 while Wapic fell by 6.90 per cent to close at 0.54 kobo.
Zenith Bank was the most active stock as it transacted over 154.62 million shares valued at N4.09 billion. GT Bank traded 48.79 million shares worth N1.52 billion while FBN Holdings sold 25.27 million shares valued at N185.62 million.