By Dipo Olowookere
The stock market in Nigeria was flat on Tuesday as investors decided to embark on cautious trading with a mix of profit-taking and bargain hunting.
Business Post observed that investors cherrypicked some stocks trading at cheap prices in the banking and consumer goods sectors, leading the duo to close higher by 0.37 per cent and 0.31 per cent respectively.
However, energy and insurance counters came under selling pressure, causing them to depreciate by 0.04 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively, while the industrial goods index was in stalemate.
At the close of transactions, the benchmark market indicators, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation were barely unchanged.
The NGX Index closed at 37,857.24 points compared with the previous 37,857.89 points, while the market cap finished at N19.724 trillion in contrast to N19.725 trillion of the preceding session.
The activity level was mixed yesterday as the trading volume increased by 5.36 per cent to 197.3 million units from 187.2 million units, while the trading value decreased by 33.54 per cent to N1.9 billion from N2.9 billion, with the number of deals dropping 11.20 per cent to 3,567 deals from 4,017 deals.
Wema Bank was the darling of stock traders at the Nigerian exchange as it transacted 37.2 million units valued at N28.1 million. GTCO traded 27.9 million shares worth N823.2 million, UPDC transacted 13.9 million stocks worth N19.6 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 12.2 million equities for N28.4 million, while UBA traded 9.6 million shares valued at N72.2 million.
On the price movement chart, there were 17 price gainers at the close of transactions on Tuesday and 13 price losers.
The highest price gainer was NCR Nigeria, which added 9.64 per cent to its share price to settle at N2.73 and was followed by Wema Bank, which gained 9.46 per cent to trade at 81 kobo.
FTN Cocoa appreciated by 8.33 per cent to trade at 39 kobo, NPF Microfinance Bank rose by 6.87 per cent to N1.71, while Lasaco Assurance grew by 6.67 per cent to N1.60.
Conversely, the highest price loser of the session was Ikeja Hotel, which depreciated by 9.09 per cent to sell for N1.40 and then trailed by Custodian Investment, which lost 6.15 per cent to trade at N6.10.
Japaul depreciated by 5.66 per cent to 50 kobo, Mutual Benefits Assurance went down by 4.76 per cent to 40 kobo, while FBN Holdings dropped 4.00 per cent to quote at N7.20.
Adedapo Adesanya