By Dipo Olowookere
The bears and bulls shared the spoils at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday amid mixed sentiments triggered by the approach of the market by traders with caution to avoid stories that touch the heart.
Business Post reports that the exchange witnessed a mixture of profit-taking and bargain-hunting during the midweek session and at the close of trades, there were 17 price gainers and 14 price losers.
However, the All-Share Index (ASI) slightly reduced by 1.50 points to 51,802.48 points from 51,803.98 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N1 billion to N27.927 trillion from N27.928 trillion.
The activity chart was mixed yesterday as the trading value and the number of trades declined by 73.08 per cent and 5.14 per cent respectively, while the trading volume increased by 32.38 per cent.
This was because investors traded 416.5 million shares worth N3.5 billion in 4,466 deals in contrast to the 314.6 million shares worth N12.9 billion transacted in 4,708 deals on Tuesday.
Mutual Benefits Assurance was the busiest stock during the session as it sold 212.5 million units valued at N53.1 million, while GTCO followed for trading 42.2 million units worth N867.5 million. UBA transacted 24.0 million stocks for N179.0 million, FBN Holdings exchanged 23.2 million equities worth N262.2 million, while Access Holdings sold 22.5 million shares valued at N208.5 million.
University Press, which released its financial statements on Wednesday, witnessed a 9.62 per cent in its share value as it closed at N2.35. Chams dropped 8.00 per cent to sell for 23 Kobo, Linkage Assurance went down by 6.90 per cent to 54 Kobo, Cutix depreciated by 6.25 per cent to N2.25, while FTN Cocoa declined by 5.71 per cent to 33 Kobo.
Ikeja Hotel ended the session as the highest price gainer with a rise of 10.00 per cent to N1.21, Royal Exchange grew by 7.29 per cent to N1.03, NPF Microfinance Bank appreciated by 7.27 per cent to N1.77, Fidelity Bank rose by 4.88 per cent to N3.44, while GlaxoSmithKline improved by 4.84 per cent to N6.50.
Of the five major sectors of the market, the trio of insurance, consumer goods and energy indices closed higher by 0.46 per cent, 0.09 per cent and 0.07 per cent apiece, while the banking space lost 0.07 per cent, with the industrial goods counter closing flat.
Adedapo Adesanya