NSE Index Plunges 0.34% as Profit Taking Prevails

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed pointing south on Wednesday after going down by 0.34 percent.

It was observed that profit-taking activities witnessed in the consumer goods and banking sectors plunged the stock market into the red territory with the year-to-date return closing at 15.95 percent.

The All-Share Index (ASI) went down yesterday by 150.14 points to settle at 44,343.65 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N54 billion to finish at N15.896 trillion.

Also, the volume of equities transacted by investors on Wednesday declined by 25.66 percent from 877 million to 652 million, but the value of shares exchanged rose by 4.49 percent from N7.4 billion to N7.8 billion.

When market activities were brought to an end yesterday, the Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 526.6 million shares exchanged for N4.6 billion, while the Consumer Goods followed with 48.4 million shares sold for N2.3 billion.

The banking stocks were the most active stocks by volume at the market yesterday with Diamond Bank, FCMB, Skye Bank, Zenith Bank and Access Bank topping the chart.

A look at the price movement chart showed that Lasaco, Law Union, Unic, Transcorp and UAC-Prop topped the losers’ chart, while Flour Mills, Wema Bank, Livestock, Wapic and Unity Bank were the highest price gainers.