Nigerian Exchange Loses 0.36% on Weak Investor Sentiment

By Dipo

Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday closed bearish by 0.36 per cent on the back of a weak investor sentiment, which resulted in only 12 stocks closing on the gainers’ table and 19 stocks finishing on the losers’ chart.

Financial equities were the major drivers of the loss printed at the market yesterday as the banking sector lost 0.95 per cent, while the insurance counter declined by 0.93 per cent, with the industrial goods space depreciating by 0.10 per cent. The consumer goods ecosystem, however, appreciated by 0.02 per cent, while the energy sector closed flat.

When trading activities were closed for the session, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 158.02 points to 43,549.28 points from 43,707.30 points, while the market capitalisation declined by N82 billion to N22.727 trillion from N22.809 trillion.

Business Post reports that Unity Bank was the best-performing stock yesterday as its value improved by 7.27 per cent to 59 kobo. FTN Cocoa rose by 5.00 per cent to 42 kobo, Universal Insurance jumped by 4.76 per cent to 22 kobo, Lafarge Africa leapt by 2.62 per cent to N25.50, while UPDC gained 2.42 per cent to sell for N1.69.

The worst-performing stock for the session was, however, Cornerstone Insurance, which depreciated by 8.77 per cent to quote at 52 kobo, followed by Cutix, which lost 8.06 per cent to sell for N5.70.

eTranzact declined by 7.32 per cent to N1.90, Regency Assurance also dropped 7.32 per cent to trade at 38 kobo, while Lasaco Assurance fell by 5.36 per cent to N1.06.

On the activity chart, investors traded 161.3 million equities worth N2.1 billion in 3,574 deals on Thursday in contrast to the 270.7 million equities worth N5.6 billion traded in 3,861 deals on Wednesday, implying that the trading volume, value and the number of deals dropped 40.41 per cent, 61.97 per cent and 7.43 per cent respectively.

FBN Holdings finished the day as the most active stock with the sale of 28.2 million units worth N322.1 million. Transcorp traded 23.5 million shares for N23.5 million, Zenith Bank sold 12.5 million equities valued at N301.2 million, Access Bank transacted 9.3 million stocks for N87.0 million, while Sterling Bank exchanged 8.3 million shares for N12.5 million.