Nigerian stocks touch 53-day high amid depressed trading

Nigerian stocks changed marginally Wednesday as the benchmark index edged up 0.03 per cent, reaching a height not seen since June 11.

That came amid concerns about the perennial liquidity that has been battering trade since the pandemic broke out, with volume finishing 10.9 per cent weaker than Tuesday’s.

The bourse latched onto gains principally from Presco, Sterling, Cutix and Access to keep the uptrend that began on Thursday going and to dampen the pressure of sell-offs in a couple of blue-chip stocks on performance.

Market breadth, an indicator of the sentiment of investors, was negative given that 19 losers were reported relative to 16 gainers, hinting at the possibility that the trading session ahead could end in red unless a major catalyst emerges to disrupt the balance of things.

The all-share index was 9.84 points up at 38,927.83 just as market capitalisation rose to N20.3 trillion.

Since the turn of the year, the index has lost 3.3 per cent.

Cutix led the gainers, appreciating by 10 per cent to close at N5.50. Veritas Kapital went up 8.70 per cent to N0.25. Tripple Gee climbed to N0.97, notching up 7.78 per cent in the process.

Presco added 72.60 per cent to end the trade at N3.71. NAHCO completed the top 5, climbing by 2.44 per cent to N2.52.

Sovereign Insurance led laggards, declining by 7.14 per cent to close at N0.26. Regal Insurance slumped to N0.42, recording 6.67 per cent depreciation. Unity Bank shed 5 per cent to close at N0.57. Jaiz fell to N0.59, losing 4.84 per cent. Caverton closed at N1.80, going down by 4.26 per cent.

In all, 206.3 million shares estimated at N1.1 billion were traded in 3,435 deals.

Sterling was the most active stock with 51.8 million units of its shares worth N78.8 million traded in 21 deals. Transcorp had 19.2 million units of its shares priced at N18.2 million exchange hands in 107 transactions.

UBA traded 17.2 million shares estimated at N129.8 million in 155 transactions. Wema had 11.2 million shares valued at N10.008 million traded in 81 deals. AIICO traded 9.478 million shares valued at N8.9 million in 100 deals.