The Nigerian Exchange Limited witnessed a 98% increase in its daily trade volume, reaching 1.12 billion units on Thursday.
However, this boost in trading activity coincided with investor losses amounting to N35 billion by the session’s close.
The previous day had reported a traded equity volume of 566,631,350 units valued at N5.39 billion.
Trading uptick spurs increased volume
Despite the substantial uptick in trade volume, the total trade value on Thursday only saw an eight percent increase to N5.82 billion. The number of deals decreased by 3.07% to 7,949.
Universal Insurance was a primary driver of this trading surge, with 669,012,278 million units of its shares, valued at N134.21 million, exchanged in 148 deals.
Following closely was Oando Plc, with 100,687,873 units of shares worth N1.46 billion traded across 1,656 deals.
Other notable stocks with high trade volumes included Japaul Gold (43,738,795 units, N43.39 million), Accesscorp (40,144,810 units, N681.95 million), and UBA (32,450,979 million units, N552.75 million).
Despite the increased trading activity, both the market capitalization and the NGX All-Share Index dipped by 0.09% at the session’s close, settling at N37.365 trillion and 68,271.14 basis points, respectively.
In the trading session, bears prevailed, with 30 losers as opposed to 20 gainers.
Top gainers included John Holt (9.55% increase), Omatek, and Daar Communications (both gaining 9.52%), Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc (gaining 9.30%), and Sunu Assurance (9.09% rise).
Conversely, the losers’ table was led by Oando, which experienced a 9.93% depreciation, followed by Lasaco (9.71% decrease), Chams (9.59% dip), Northern Nigerian Flour Mills Plc (9.23% drop), and Tantalizer (8.57% decline).
Meanwhile, President Bola Tinubu, speaking at the NASDAQ closing bell ceremony in New York, called on foreign investors to bring their capital into Nigeria, highlighting efforts to facilitate the free flow of capital under his administration.
The event was jointly organized by the United States Chamber of Commerce, Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, and Nigerian Investment Promotion Council.