Sustained Selloffs in Tier-1 Banks Keep Bears in Control on NGX

By Dipo Olowookere

The bears maintained their control over the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday, causing the market to further deplete by 0.05 per cent.

Sustained selloffs in tier-1 banks like GTCO, Access Bank, Zenith Bank and UBA ensured that the domestic bourse remained in the danger zone at the close of transactions.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 21.16 points to 38,852.69 points from 38,873.85 points, while the market capitalisation depreciated by N11 billion to N20.243 trillion from N20.254 trillion.

Business Post reports that the insurance, energy and industrial goods sectors appreciated by 1.21 per cent, 0.50 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively, while the banking and consumer goods counters went down respectively by 0.83 per cent and 0.02 per cent.

A total of 17 stocks were on the losers’ chart at the midweek session led by Veritas Kapital, which lost 8.70 per cent to close at 21 kobo, followed by United Capital, which fell by 5.00 per cent to trade at N8.55.

Chams depreciated by 4.55 per cent to quote at 21 kobo, Access Bank declined by 3.37 per cent to sell for N8.60, while Japaul weakened by 2.13 per cent to 46 kobo.

On the gainers’ log, a total of 13 stocks were there at the session led by Transcorp Hotels, which appreciated by 10.00 per cent to trade at N4.95.

Pharma Deko improved by 9.88 per cent to N1.78, Conoil grew by 9.84 per cent to N24.55, Cornerstone Insurance gained 8.16 per cent to trade at 53 kobo, while NEM Insurance rose by 5.26 per cent to N2.00.

When the market closed for the day, a total of 155.8 million equities worth N1.5 billion were traded in 3,256 deals in contrast to the 184.4 million equities worth N2.3 billion transacted in 3,809 deals a day earlier. This indicated that the trading volume, value and the number of deals went down by 15.54 per cent, 35.55 per cent and 14.52 per cent respectively.

Analysis showed that Universal Insurance was the most traded equity at the local exchange on Wednesday as it sold 19.0 million units valued at N3.8 million.

UBA traded 18.8 million stocks worth N143.1 million, Zenith Bank sold 11.8 million shares valued at N268.8 million, GTCO transacted 10.0 million equities valued at N271.3 million, while United Capital exchanged 8.5 million shares for N74.6 million.