UAC of Nigeria Plc emerged as the biggest contributor to trading value on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) as investors exchanged N53.64 billion worth of equities during the opening trading session of October.
UACN recorded 158.18 million shares valued at N21.51 billion, accounting for approximately 40.1 percent of the N53.64 billion total value of equities traded during the session.
The concentration of trading in UACN came as overall market turnover strengthened substantially from the preceding session.
Total transaction value increased from N34.30 billion to N53.64 billion, representing an increase of about 56.4 percent, while trading volume jumped from 548.67 million shares to 1.035 billion shares, an increase of approximately 88.7 percent.
However, the number of transactions declined from 47,301 deals to 44,469 deals, indicating that the surge in turnover was driven by larger trading volumes and values rather than an increase in the number of executed transactions.
While UACN dominated activity by value, VFD Group emerged as the most actively traded equity by volume.
Investors exchanged 367.32 million VFD Group shares valued at N4.86 billion, representing approximately 35.5 percent of the entire 1.035 billion shares traded on the exchange.
Abbey Mortgage Bank followed with 72.43 million shares worth N507.11 million, while Chams recorded 63.89 million shares valued at N199.82 million.
GTCO completed the five most actively traded equities with 39.55 million shares valued at N5.27 billion.
Together, the five equities accounted for about 701.38 million shares, equivalent to approximately 67.7 percent of total market volume.
Their combined transaction value stood at approximately N32.35 billion, representing about 60.3 percent of the N53.64 billion recorded across the equities market.
The sharp increase in trading activity came despite a negative performance in the broader market.
The NGX All-Share Index declined by 0.28 percent to 251,211.67 points, while equity market capitalisation fell by approximately N425.73 billion to N163.10 trillion.
The session therefore opened October with a divergence between market direction and trading activity as the benchmark index declined even as the value and volume of equities exchanged rose sharply.