The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) saw a significant increase in daily trade volume on Thursday, with a 98% rise to 1.12 billion units, compared to 566,631,350 units traded the previous day. Despite the surge in trade volume, the total trade value only increased by 8% to N5.82 billion. The total number of deals decreased slightly by 3.07% to 7,949.
The surge in trade volume was largely driven by Universal Insurance, which witnessed the trading of 669,012,278 million units of its shares worth N134.21 million in 148 deals. Oando Plc followed with 100,687,873 units of shares valued at N1.46 billion traded in 1,656 deals.
Other stocks with notable trade volumes included Japaul Gold (43,738,795 units), Accesscorp (40,144,810 units), and UBA (32,450,979 units).
Despite the increase in trade volume, the NGX All-Share Index and market capitalization both declined by 0.09% at the close of the trading session, ending at 68,271.14 basis points and N37.365 trillion, respectively. The market was bearish, with 30 losers compared to 20 gainers.
Top gainers included John Holt, Omatek, Daar Communications, Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc, and Sunu Assurance. On the other hand, Oando, Lasaco, Chams, Northern Nigerian Flour Mills Plc, and Tantalizer were among the top losers.
In related news, President Bola Tinubu has called on foreign investors to bring their capital into Nigeria, highlighting his administration’s efforts to ease the free flow of capital. He made this statement during a ceremony at NASDAQ in New York, organized by the United States Chamber of Commerce, Nigerian Exchange Group Plc, and the Nigerian Investment Promotion Council.