Equity gains N101bn on first day of trading
Uzezi Samuel The local equity market Monday opened the week on positive note, increasing by N101 billion as gains recorded by Buafoods, Geregu Power, Eterna Plc, Nahco and 28 others lifted market activities.
The market capitalisation of listed equities up by 0.18 per cent to close at N55.836 trillion from N55.735 trillion traded on Friday.
As result year to date return went to 36.47 per cent as NGX printed 32 gainers against 23 losers.
Volume of trading declined by 79.455 million, representing 24.68 per cent as investors traded 242.432 million shares valued at N5.126 billion against 321.887 million shares cost N7.354 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 8925 deals.
Transactions in the shares of AccessCorp led market activities with 24.898 million shares worth N575.101 million, Veritas Kapital followed with 24.182 million shares valued at N17.453 million, GTCO Plc traded 21.172 million shares worth N841.254 million, FBNHoldings traded 17.238 million shares worth N439.389 million while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria exchanged 17.082 million shares valued at N229.224 million.
Capital market operators said that the selloff in the shares of AccessCorp was as result of the sudden death of the Group Managing Director, Mr. Herbert Wigwe.
They said although investors are still waiting to see the next person to replace him but they doubted if the company will be able to have any person that will match Herbert Wigwe in respect of vision in managing an institution like AccessCorp.
Managing Director, APT Security and Funds Ltd, Malam Garba Kurfi said that Wigwe risk appetite is too high for anyone to take his position.
He said “Wigwe acquired other financial institutions both locally and international and managed them professionally. He took over some insurance companies that are not doing well and turned them around.”
Speaking further he said I do not blame anyone dumping AccessCorp shares at this point in time, but I think it is better for us to see the new Group Managing Director of the Holdings first before offloading their share
He insisted that it will be difficult to see any person that will manage the bank as Wigwe did as he has managerial capacity to deliver at any time, adding that the gap Wigwe created is too much for anyone to fill up.
An analysis of the investment showed that NCR, Chams Plc and Royal Express led gainers table with 10 per cent to close at N4.40, N2.75 and N0.77 per share respectively.
SUNU Assurance followed with a gain of 9.50 per cent to close at N1.96 per share, TIP added 9.43 per cent to close at N2.32 per share.
On the contrary, Infinity Savings recorded the highest loss at the close of trading at NGX, shedding 9.90 per cent to close at N7.19 per cent, JohnHolt trailed with a drop of 9.89 per cent to close at N2.19 per unit, PZ Cusson fell by 9.87 per cent to close at N27.85 per unit, May and Baker sheds 9.80 per cent to close at N6.36 per unit, Deap Capital declined by 7.14 per cent to close at N0.65 per unit.
