GTCO Leads Trade on NGX with over N4bn Transactions

Kayode Tokede

Investors yesterday traded N4.02 billion value of Guaranty Trust Bank Holdings Company (GTCO) as the company emerged as one of the most traded stocks on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX).

The lender recorded 96.63 million volume traded by investors on NGX from 18.04miillion the stock opened for trading this week, as GTCO shares were responsible for 23.4per cent of the market’s activity in terms of volume traded.

As one of the most traded companies, the stock price of GTCO closed at N41.9 per share, gaining N0.80 per share or 1.95per cent from N41.1 per share when the stock opened for trading.

THISDAY gathered that the total volume of trade increased by 22 per cent to 436.897 million units, valued at N17.099 billion, and exchanged in 11,344 deals over speculation of Foreign Portfolio Investors (FPI) demand for penny stocks on NGX.

Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) followed GTCO with 73.860 million shares valued at N1.231 billion, while Access Holdings traded 48.090 million shares valued at N988.350 million.

It was closely followed by UBA which traded 21.581 million shares worth N497.306 million, while NASCON Allied Industries traded 19.575 million shares worth N1.126 billion.

Opening the new week, the stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday extended gains from previous week as the overall market capitalisation added N404 billion on speculation of foreign portfolio investors’ (FPIs) demand for penny stocks. 

The demand by FPIs impacted on newly listed Transcorp Power Plc and 33 other stocks to appreciate, contributing to NGX All-Share Index (ASI) that gained 713.99 basis points or 0.70 per cent to close at 102,044.84 basis points from 101,330.85basis points the stock market opened for trading.

Also, market capitalisation rose by N404 billion to close at N57.697 trillion from N57.293trillion it closed the previous week.

Performance across the sectors was mostly positive, following gains in the NGX Banking that added two per cent, NGX Insurance rose by 1.4per cent, NGX Consumer Goods increased by 1.1per cent and NGX Industrial Goods appreciated by 0.1per cent.

However, the NGX Oil & Gas dropped by 0.2per cent, the sole loser.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive, as 34 stocks gained relative to 16 losers. Honeywell Flour Mills and NEM Insurance emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent each to close at N3.74 and N6.05 respectively, while Dangote Sugar Refinery followed with a gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N61.20, per share.

NASCON Allied Industries rose by 9.92 per cent to close at N57.60, while Wema Bank appreciated by 9.79 per cent to close at N7.85, per share. On the other side, Prestige Assurance led others on the losers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at 54 kobo, per share. LASACO Assurance followed with a decline of 9.83 per cent to close at N2.11, while UACN shed 9.68 per cent to close at N12.60, per share.

RT Briscoe went down by 8.16 per cent to close at 45 kobo, while International Energy Insurance depreciated by 7.74 per cent to close at N1.55, per share.

Analysts at United Capital Plc, in their comment on market activities, stated, “we expect mixed sentiments towards equities investments, with bearish sentiment persisting at the background, motivated by the elevated interest rate regime, and further indication of Monetary Policy Rate (MPR) tightening by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), in line with its inflation-targeting framework. However, we expect solid corporate actions and fundamentals to continue to spur bargain hunting among investors.”