Emmanuel OchayiIn a display of investors’ confidence in the banking sector, the equity market yesterday experienced an upswing, surging by N16 billion. The driving force behind this gain was the robust buying pressure witnessed in banking stocks, creating a positive outlook for the market.
The All-Share index saw a rise of +0.04%, echoing the previous day’s gain of +0.43%, ultimately closing at 67,353.23 basis points. Moreover, the market capitalization surged beyond the N37 trillion mark, settling at N37.004 trillion as the trading session concluded.
Directing the upward momentum were buy pressures observed in the stocks of prominent financial players such as United Bank for Africa, AccessCorp, GTCO, Zenith Bank, Fidelity, Mansard, and Eterna.
The day’s transaction volume displayed an encouraging leap, increasing from the previous day’s trading figure of 377.97 million to a 397.56 million units of shares valued at N4.66 billion, which were traded in 6,165 deals. In total, 119 different stocks were actively traded during the day’s session.
Market breadth, serving as an indicator of investors’ sentiments, maintained a stance at 1.06x, compared to its earlier market breadth of 1.23x, with 19 stocks emerging as gainers in contrast to 18 losers.
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Topping the list of gainers was Guinea Insurance, marking an impressive 9.09% appreciation in its shares, concluding the day at N0.24. Guinea Insurance’s significant achievement was facilitated by the listing of 1,802,800,000 ordinary shares, each priced at 50 Kobo per share, on the Daily Official List of the NGX, which resulted from a private placement.
Eterna, an oil firm, also showed remarkable growth, with its shares surging by 6.86% to close at N14.80. Other notable gainers included Unity Bank, Jaiz Bank, and Omatek, showcasing gains of 5.49%, 5.26%, and 4.55% respectively.
However, there were also losers on the trading floor, with Computer Warehouse Group experiencing a substantial 10% drop to N8.55 per share. RT Briscoe, Africa Prudential Plc, FTN Cocoa, and Neimeth witnessed losses of 8.77%, 7.14%, 6.29%, and 6.06% respectively.
Analyzing sectoral performance, the market displayed a predominantly bullish trend, with the Banking, Insurance, and Oil/Gas indexes leading the pack, advancing by 0.74%, 0.27%, and 0.22% respectively.
On the flip side, the Industrial Goods sector saw a minor decline of 0.06%, while the Consumer Goods sector remained stable.
In terms of volume, Wema Bank took the lead as the most actively traded stock, with 88.99 million shares valued at N418.15 billion changing hands in 65 deals.
AccessCorp followed closely with 35.61 million units of shares worth N598.49 million traded across 429 exchanges. Furthermore, over 35.17 million units of UBA shares, valued at N659.13 million, were exchanged in 470 deals, while Fidelity Bank accounted for 33.41 million units of its shares, valued at N279.51 million, traded across 222 deals.
Lastly, 23.421 million units of GTCO shares, worth N828.48 million, were exchanged in 361 deals.
Investors are eagerly watching this trend, anticipating how it will continue to unfold in the coming days.
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