2nd February, 2024
By Rukayat Adeyemi
Transaction at the stock market on Friday showed that investors gained N899 billion.
Specifically, the market capitalisation, which opened at 56.259 trillion, closed at 57.158 trillion, representing 1.59 per cent increase.
Also, the All-Share Index also went up by 1,643.79 points or 1.59 per cent to settle at 104,421.23 compared with 102,802.25 posted on Thursday.
As a result, the Year-To-Date (YTD) return increased to 39.65 per cent.
Sustained investors’ buy interest in the stocks of Tier-one banks and MTN Nigeria improved the performance of the market.
The market breadth closed positive with 57 advanced stocks as against 12 declined others.
On the gainers’ table, Sterling Nigeria, Neimeth International Pharmacy (NEIMETH) and Transcorp led in percentage terms of 10 each to close at N6.60, N2.09, N40.70 and N15.40 per share respectively.
Meyer Plc and PZ Cussons also gained 9.97 per cent each to close at N4.30 and N36.40 per share respectively.
Conversely, Johnholt led the losers’ table by 10 per cent to close at N2.43, followed by Morison Industries by 9.76 per cent to close at N3.05 per share.
NEM Insurance lost 9.15 per cent to close at N7.45, while Deap Capital Management and Trust(DeapCap) shed 8.22 per cent to close at 67k per share.
LASACO Assurance declined by 5.20 per cent to close at N2.55 per share.
Analysis of the market activities indicated that trade turnover settled higher when compared to the previous session, which stood at 45.96 per cent.
The News Agency of Nigeria(NAN) reports that 944 million shares valued at N23.48 billion were exchanged in 11,512 deals as against 861 million shares valued at N12.16 billion exchanged in 12,851 deals on Thursday.
Similarly, First Bank Nigeria Holdings (FBNH) led the volume chart with 338.84 million shares traded at N8.88 billion.
Guaranty Trust Company(GTCO) followed by 80.61 million shares worth N3.34 billion.
Transcorp sold 54.98 million shares at N834.84 million, while United Bank of Africa (UBA) traded 49.56 million shares worth N1.42 billion.
Access Corporation sold 38.82 shares valued N1.05 million.
Reacting, Mr David Adonri, Vice Chairman, Highcap Securities Ltd., said that the market performance indices, especially the All-Share index, at over 100,000 was quite unimaginable.
Adonri, in an interview with NAN in Lagos, stated that investors in the stock market had made a lot of profit, hence the recent sell-offs witnessed in the market.
He said: “Any investor who has not taken his or her profit would have no one to blame.
“Many of the investors left now in the market are institutional investors who are investing for a very longtime and are not bothered about the short term volatility of the market.