Kayode Tokede The Nigerian stock market yesterday appreciated by N192 billion over surge demand for First Holdco Plc and 23 other quoted companies on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX). As the stock price of First Holdco advanced by 2.19per cent to close at N140 per share from 137 per share, the market capitalisation closed for trading at N158.278 trillion from N158.087 trillion it closed for trading the previous day. The NGX All Share Index settled at 245,209.34 basis points, an increase of 0.12 per cent from 244,912.24 basis points when the stock market opened for trading as the Year-to-Date returns settled at 57.6 per cent. Sectoral performance was broadly positive as the NGX Banking Index gained 0.6per cent, NGX Consumer Goods Index advanced by 0.2 per cent and NGX Oil & Gas increased by 0.1 per cent, while the NGX Insurance Index dipped by 0.9per cent. The NGX Industrial Goods index closed flat. Market breadth remained negative at 0.64x, with 23 gainers against 36)losers, indicating that the market’s marginal advance was driven by gains in a handful of large-cap stocks. Eterna appreciated by 10per cent to N36.30 per share to emerge as the session’s top gainer This was followed by AVA Capital that gained 9.63 per cent to close at N11.95 per share. ETI dropped by 9.99per cent to close at N72.10 per share, to record the steepest decline. Chellaram was down by 9.85 per cent to close at N11.90 per share. The total volume traded declined by 35.5per cent to 531.77 million units, valued at N20.46 billion, and exchanged in 44,826 deals. FCMB Holdings Plc was the most traded stock by volume at 131.74 million units while First Holdco was the most traded stock by value at N5.95 billion.
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