By Dipo Olowookere
The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) depreciated on Tuesday by 0.16 percent or 42.26 points to finish at 27,047.58 points despite the market breadth finish strong by 1.5x.
This market indicator, which measures investors sentiment, showed that there were 18 price gainers at the close of business yesterday against 12 price losers.
Business Post observed that the bearish closure of the stock market on Tuesday was caused selloffs witnessed again in the consumer goods space as well as in the industrial sector. While the consumer goods index fell by 2.22 percent, the industrial arm declined by 1.61 percent.
Furthermore, the energy sector depreciated by 0.19 percent, while the insurance index went down by 0.49 percent. Only the banking index closed positive with 1.00 percent growth.
The poor performance of stocks in these sectors reduced the market capitalization on Tuesday by N20.6 billion, leaving it at N13.158 trillion at the end of the day’s transactions against N13.179 trillion it ended in the previous session.
For the second time this week, Nestle Nigeria topped the losers’ log after going down by N56 to finish at N1080 per unit, while CCNN dropped N1.15k to close at N16.25k per share.
Dangote Cement lost 70 kobo to end at N155 per share, Forte Oil depreciated by 50 kobo to leave its stock price at N14 each, while UAC Nigeria went down by 40 kobo to settle at N6.20k per unit.
On the gainers’ side, Dangote Flour appreciated by N1.25k to lead the table and close at N22.25k per share, while MTN Nigeria improved its stock value by 45 kobo to finish at N138.50k each, GTBank gained 35 kobo to rise to N26.85k per share, FBN Holding also appreciated by 35 kobo to close at N5 per unit, while Nigerian Breweries rose by 20 kobo to settle at N50.75k per share.
The level of activity was good yesterday as the volume of shares traded by investors increased by 25.38 percent, while the value of the trades went up by 13.23 percent.
A total of 364.2 million shares worth N4.9 billion exchanged hands on Tuesday in 4,629 deals compared with the 290.5 million equities valued at N4.3 billion transacted on Monday in 2,900 deals.
GTBank remained the most active stock during the trading day, accounting for 78.6 million units sold for N2.1 billion, while Courtville followed with 49.0 million units traded for N10.7 million.
Access Bank transacted 43.9 million equities worth N301.9 million, Zenith Bank traded 40.3 million shares valued at N732.9 million, while FBN Holdings exchanged 36.5 million shares for N179.9 million.
Adedapo Adesanya