By Dipo Olowookere
Equities in Nigeria lost 0.04 per cent on Wednesday a day after printing the first growth in four sessions. The decline came despite the market breadth closing positive with 13 price gainers as against the 12 price losers.
Losses recorded by the insurance (1.03 per cent), banking (0.42 per cent) and consumer goods (0.02 per cent) sectors suppressed the 1.27 per cent growth recorded by the energy sector. The industrial goods counter closed flat during the session.
At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 14.68 points to finish at 38,706.13 points as against 38,720.81 points it ended the preceding day.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation decreased by N8 billion to settle at N20.251 trillion in contrast to N20.259 trillion of the prior session.
Yesterday, NCR Nigeria was the biggest price decliner as its equity value reduced by 9.71 per cent to N2.79. Neimeth lost 9.09 per cent to close at N1.90, Vitafoam dropped 5.16 per cent to N7.35, Axa Mansard Insurance declined by 5.05 per cent to sell at 94 kobo, while NEM Insurance depleted by 4.57 per cent to N2.09.
On the flip side, Coronation Insurance (Wapic) topped the gainers’ chart with a price appreciation of 10.00 per cent to trade at 55 kobo.
SFS REIT gained 9.94 per cent to sell for N68.60, Oando grew by 9.67 per cent to N3.29, Unity Bank rose by 9.09 per cent to 72 kobo, while Livestock Feeds appreciated by 2.63 per cent to close at N1.95.
Business Post reports that the level of activity was weak at the midweek session as the trading volume reduced by 19.68 per cent to 177.4 million units from 220.9 million units.
Also, the trading value went down by 36.35 per cent to N2.7 billion from N4.2 billion, while the number of deals reduced by 2.12 per cent to 4,103 deals from 4,192 deals.
GTBank was the most active stock at the session, selling 34.2 million units worth N957.8 million and was trailed by Zenith Bank, which transacted 28.5 million units valued at N572.1 million.
UBA exchanged 17.7 million equities for N122.1 million, Transcorp sold 17.6 million shares valued at N14.3 million, while Access Bank traded 10.5 million stocks worth N82.0 million.
Adedapo Adesanya