Market Further Drops 0.02% as Investors Sell-off Honeywell in Panic

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further depreciated by 0.02 per cent on Wednesday on the back of profit-taking in some equities, including Honeywell Flour Mills.

The company closed the session as the heaviest price loser as some traders sold off their stake in a panic over news that Ecobank has warned the new buyers of the firm of an existing court case involving a huge debt.

The boards of Honeywell Flour and Flour Mills of Nigeria, which is taking over the company, had to release statements to calm nerves.

However, the damage was already done during the trading session as the company’s shares depreciated by 9.78 per cent to close at N3.69.

Eterna, another company that was recently acquired by another firm, lost 9.02 per cent to sell for N6.05, Regency Assurance fell by 7.69 per cent to 36 kobo, Cornerstone Insurance dropped 7.14 per cent to trade at 52 kobo, while Wema Bank declined by 3.61 per cent to 80 kobo.

Business Post reports that at the close of transactions, there were 18 price losers and 23 price gainers led by Livingtrust Mortgage Bank, which gained 10.00 per cent to quote at 88 kobo.

Chams grew by 9.52 per cent to 23 kobo, AIICO Insurance rose by 9.26 per cent to 59 kobo, Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 8.70 per cent to N1.25, while NGX Group went up by 7.84 per cent to N16.50.

As for the sectoral performance, the energy space lost 0.24 per cent, while the insurance, banking, industrial goods and consumer goods sectors appreciated by 2.05 per cent, 0.25 per cent, 0.13 per cent and 0.09 per cent respectively.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) slumped by 10.12 points to 43,245.02 points from 43,255.14 points, while the market capitalisation drowned by N12 billion to N22.565 trillion from N22.577 trillion.

On the activity chart, the trading volume rose by 11.57 per cent to 243.2 million stocks from 218.0 million stocks traded on Tuesday.

Also, the trading value improved by 28.86 per cent to N3.8 billion from the previous day’s N2.9 billion, while the number of deals declined by 9.16 per cent to 3,777 deals from 4,158 deals.

Zenith Bank ended the session as the most traded equity with the sale of 37.4 million units valued at N908.4 million, followed by FCMB, which transacted 27.4 million units worth N88.6 million.

On the trading day, Honeywell Flour sold 22.9 million stocks for N87.6 million, Sterling Bank traded 22.8 million equities valued at N33.7 million, while Access Bank transacted 14.1 million shares worth N131.9 million.