Banking Shares, Others Weaken NGX Index by 0.12%

By Dipo Olowookere

Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closed bearish on Wednesday by 0.12 per cent, following the profit-taking by investors.

Banking shares were mostly affected by the sell-offs, especially GTCO, Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC, UAC Nigeria and others.

Business Post reports that at the close of business, the insurance index depreciated by 1.01 per cent, the banking sector lost 0.32 per cent, the consumer goods counter went down by 0.08 per cent, while the energy space appreciated by 0.55 per cent, with the industrial goods index closing flat.

When the closing gong was beaten by 2:30 pm yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 46.77 points to 39,204.52 points from 39,251.29 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N25 billion to N20.426 trillion from N20.451 trillion.

The highest price loser at the midweek session was SCOA Nigeria as it went down by 9.72 per cent to N1.30, Veritas Kapital depreciated by 8.70 per cent to 21 kobo, Axa Mansard Insurance depleted by 5.68 per cent to 83 kobo, Chams fell by 4.55 per cent to 21 kobo, while International Breweries fell by 4.00 per cent to N4.80.

On the other hand, Regency Alliance ended the session as the highest price gainer after its value went up by 8.51 per cent to settle at 51 kobo. Universal Insurance appreciated by 5.00 per cent to 21 kobo, Sovereign Trust Insurance grew by 4.17 per cent to 25 kobo, FCMB gained 3.45 per cent to N3.00, while Oando rose by 3.18 per cent to N4.54.

Yesterday, a total of 354.1 million shares worth N3.2 billion were traded in 4,095 deals compared with the 355.9 million shares worth N2.9 billion transacted in 4,241 deals, indicating a 0.53 per cent decline in the trading volume, a 11.52 per cent increase in the trading value, while the number of deals went down by 3.44 per cent.

FBN Holdings was the most active stock with 86.0 million units valued at N640.9 million, Access Bank transacted 71.1 million units worth N671.3 million, Universal Insurance traded 22.3 million units worth N4.5 million, GTCO exchanged 19.4 million units valued at N529.1 million, while Transcorp sold 16.1 million units for N14.7 million.