By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closed at a level last seen in August 2008 on Tuesday after it recorded a growth of 1.04 per cent.
This pushed the All-Share Index (ASI) higher by 486.64 points to 47,111.21 points from 46,624.67 points and raised the market capitalisation by N489 billion to N25.387 trillion from N24.898 trillion.
The rise witnessed yesterday was influenced by demand for energy, banking, industrial goods and insurance stocks, causing their respective indices to increase by 5.77 per cent, 2.59 per cent, 0.85 per cent and 0.64 per cent, while the consumer goods sector experienced a sell-off as it went down by 0.05 per cent.
Seplat was the biggest price gainer on Tuesday as it added 10.00 per cent to its stock value to settle at N869.00, Conoil rose by 9.79 per cent to N24.10, Academy Press grew by 9.57 per cent to N1.03, RT Briscoe improved by 9.09 per cent to 24 kobo, while Presco gained 8.75 per cent to sell at N105.00.
The biggest price loser of the day was Caverton as its value went down by 9.50 per cent to N1.62, Eterna lost 9.17 per cent to trade at N5.45, NCR Nigeria depreciated by 9.09 per cent to N3.00, Japaul declined by 7.50 per cent to 37 kobo, while Ecobank fell by 7.20 per cent to N11.60.
At the close of business, the market breadth closed positive with 36 price gainers and 21 price losers, indicating a strong investor sentiment.
On the activity chart, the trading value and the number of deals expanded by 8.96 per cent and 26.64 per cent respectively, while the trading value depreciated by 26.66 per cent.
This was because investors traded a total of 341.5 million shares worth N3.7 billion in 6,417 deals as against the 435.7 million shares worth N5.0 billion transacted in 6,482 deals a day earlier.
A breakdown showed that Transcorp dominated with a turnover of 32.1 million stocks sold for N37.5 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 25.2 million shares worth N71.5 million, Access Bank transacted 23.5 million equities valued at N238.3 million, GTCO traded 21.1 million shares for N587.3 million, while NGX Group exchanged 20.5 million stocks for N502.5 million.
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