After going down for two straight trading sessions, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited returned to winning ways on Thursday, closing higher by 0.52 per cent.
Renewed bargain-hunting rescued Customs Street from the snarl of the fowler, as the bears were not ready to let go.
Data obtained by Business Post from the bourse confirmed this, as investor sentiment remained bearish after a negative market breadth index. There were 31 price gainers and 35 price decliners yesterday.
Also, the sustained selling pressure weakened three of the five indices tracked by this newspaper, with the insurance space down by 0.71 per cent, the banking counter down by 0.45 per cent, and the energy industry down by 0.29 per cent.
However, the industrial goods sector appreciated by 1.88 per cent, while the consumer goods index improved by 0.25 per cent.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 1,010.23 points to 196,908.76 points from 195,898.53 points, and the market capitalisation expanded by N649 billion to N126.399 trillion from N125.750 trillion.
FTN Cocoa topped the advancers’ chart after it grew by 10.00 per cent to N6.27, Fidson surged by 9.97 per cent to N105.35, Deap Capital advanced by 9.89 per cent to N7.00, Caverton rose by 9.40 per cent to N6.40, and Livestock Feeds increased by 9.30 per cent to N7.05.
On the flip side, Eterna lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N42.30, Omatek deflated by 10.00 per cent to N2.52, SCOA Nigeria crashed by 9.94 per cent to N22.65, Fortis Global Insurance contracted by 9.24 per cent to N1.08, and Sovereign Trust Insurance slipped 9.09 per cent to N2.10.
During the session, market participants traded 549.8 million equities worth N44.7 billion in 55,465 deals versus the 671.3 million shares valued at N26.1 billion transacted in 58,792 deals on Wednesday.
This indicated that the value of transactions soared by 71.26 per cent, while the volume of trades and the number of deals decreased by 18.10 per cent and 5.66 per cent apiece.
Fortis Global Insurance finished the day as the busiest stock with 32.2 million units valued at N34.8 million, Access Holdings traded 28.1 million units worth N701.0 million, First Holdco exchanged 27.7 million units for N1.4 billion, Zenith Bank transacted 27.5 million units worth N2.6 billion, and Dangote Cement sold 26.9 million units valued at N20.7 billion.