The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) stocks section has ended days of loss-making streaks caused by investors’ poor purchasing impulses. As a result, market capitalisation climbed by N261 billion to N292 billion.
The Nigerian stock market’s heavyweights, such as Dangote Cement, GTCO, and Zenith Bank, posted rises on increased expectations during results reports, halting a four-day decline. Profit-taking has occurred on equities in the market mover category as investors begin to rebalance their portfolios.
The local bourse All Share Index (ASI) ended Wednesday’s trade 0.90% higher at 53,603.80 points, according to stockbrokers, owing to enhanced investor risk appetite. Hence, the year-to-date gain of the NGX ASI rose to 4.59%. In addition, the Exchange printed 22 gainers against 14 losers as we saw positive reactions to OANDO, PZ Cussons, and Zenith Bank Plc earnings and dividend releases.
Despite a large loss reported in its financial statement for 2020, OANDO’s share price increased by 9.84%. PZ gained 4.39% and Zenith Bank’s share appreciated by 2.8%.
Particularly, stockbrokers at Cowry Asset spotted that buying interest on tickers such as TRANSCORP, DANGCEM, and WAPCO lifted their respective share prices higher by 7.14%, 5.07%, and 1.98%.
Of the five tracked indices, three closed in the green, with the exception of the NGX Insurance index, which declined by 0.76%, and the NGX Oil/ Gas index, which was flat.
The NGX Banking, NGX Consumer Goods, and NGX Industrial indexes advanced by 1.97%, 0.12%, and 2.69%, respectively. In the broad and narrow markets, the NGX Premium, NGX Mainboard, and NGX-30 indexes increased by 190 bps, 18 bps, and 102 bps, respectively.
Meanwhile, trading activity improved, with total deals, volume, and value increasing by 27.19%, 16.38%, and 58.74%, respectively, to 3,906 trades, 236.07 million units, and N3.26 billion.
In terms of volume, TRANSCORP was the most active stock, with 91.39 million shares worth N134.24 million changing hands in 264 deals. #NGX Halts Profit-takings as Dangote, Zenith Rally