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NGX jumps as investors ramp up Union Bank shares

THE Nigerian Exchange, NGX, jumped by about N17 billion on Friday as investors’ ramp up shares of Union Bank following the acquisition announcement.

For the week, trading activities have been on a bearish trend as Santa Claus escapes the financial market. A possibility is, without Union Bank major shareholders divestment of 89.39%, the stock market would have probably ended on a negative note.

The market, which only opened for 2hours 30minutes following Christmas eve early closure, saw price appreciation in all the market sectors, save for the Oil & Gas sectors that remained unchanged, Atlass Portfolios Limited said. 

Thus, the Nigerian Exchange All-Share Index rose by 32.37 basis points, representing a growth of 0.08 per cent to close at 42,262.85 points.

Data from the local bourse shows that the market capitalisation gained ₦16.90 billion, representing an increase of 0.08 per cent to close at ₦22.06 trillion.

However, the market activities remained bearish as the total volume and value traded tanked by 547.02 per cent and 63.00 per cent, respectively.

A total sum of 111.84 million units valued at ₦911.92 million was transacted in 2,072 deals, according to Atlass Portfolios Limited.

TRANSCORP led the traded stocks in terms of volume, accounting for 10.32 per cent of the total volume of trades.

This was followed closely by UBN (8.84%), ACCESS (8.83%), SOVERNINS (8.05%), and STERLNBANK (6.38%) to complete the top five on the volume chart.

ZENITH BANK merged as the most traded stock in value terms, with 15.68 per cent of the total value of trades on the exchange.

UBN maintained the led on the gainers’ chart with price appreciation of 9.90 per cent, trailed by CHIPLC (9.38%), VITAFOAM (4.41%), WAPCO (3.23%), TRANSCORP (2.06%), LIVESTOCK (1.49%), ZENITH BANK (0.83%) and five (5) others.

On the other hand, thirteen (13) stocks depreciated, led by CORNERST with a price depreciation of 9.80 per cent to close at ₦0.46.

JAPAULGOLD share price lost 2.63%, FBNH dipped 1.71%, ACCESS sloped down by 1.67%, WEMABANK declined 1.28%, UBA shed 0.63%, and GTCO knocked off 0.58% from their respective opening prices.

Consequent to the buying sentiment, the market breadth closed marginally positive, recording 14 gainers and 13 losers.

Today, the sector performance was positive, as four of the five sectors appreciated.

The sector’s performance was led by the Banking (0.73%), trailed by Insurance (0.24%), Industrial Goods (0.19%) and Consumer Goods (0.13%), while the Oil & Gas remain unchanged.

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