Stock Market Gains N7.97bn, Ends Five-day Losing Streak

Investors in the Nigerian Exchange Limited gained N7.97bn at the end of trading on Wednesday as equities ended a five-day losing streak.

The NGX All-Share Index rose slightly by 0.04 per cent from 37,857.24 basis points on Tuesday to close at 37872.55bps on Wednesday.

Market activity was mixed as trading volume decreased from 197.28 million shares worth N2.98bn to 197.23 million shares valued at N21.4bn, but the number of deals increased from 3,567 to 3,610 on Wednesday.

As trading ended on the floor of the NGX, 18 companies saw gains in their share prices while 11 firms saw value erased off their stocks.

Leading the gainers’ chart was Capital Hotel Plc as it jumped by 10.00 per cent to close at N2.64 per share. NCR (Nigeria) Plc came next with a 9.89 per cent increase, ending the day at N3.00 per share.

The rest of the top five on the gainers’ table included Unity Bank Plc (6.78 per cent), Total Nigeria Plc (6.06 per cent) and FTN Cocoa Processors Plc (5.13 per cent). Linkage Assurance Plc saw the biggest loss on Wednesday as it dropped by 5.41 per cent to close at N0.70 per share.

Cornerstone Insurance Plc followed closely with a 5.36 per cent decrease in its share price to N0.53. Other top losers were Oando Plc, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc and Access Bank Plc with losses of 4.14 per cent, 2.86 per cent, and 2.17 per cent respectively.

Analysts from Cordros Research, in their commentary on the day’s performance, said, “Trading in the local bourse ended the day mixed but with a bullish bias. Investors interest in TOTAL supported market performance despite selloffs in ACCESS. Consequently, the month-to-date and year-to-date losses moderated to -0.10 per cent and -6.0 per cent respectively.”

For the exchange-traded products’ market, Meristem Value Exchange Traded Fund saw gains of 3.56 per cent as it closed at N18.02 per share while Vetiva Banking ETF lost 6.25 per cent.