Stock Market Investors Further Lose N78bn on Weak Sentiment

By Dipo Olowookere

A weak sentiment on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday caused portfolios of investors to further deplete by 0.31 per cent.

Business Post reports that the stock market ended the trading session with 18 appreciating stocks and 21 depreciating stocks, indicating a negative market breadth.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 146.15 points to 47,057.24 points from 47,203.39 points, while the market capitalisation declined by N78 billion to N25.358 trillion from N25.436 trillion.

According to data from the exchange, the banking and industrial goods sectors went down by 0.17 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively, while the insurance, energy and consumer goods counter appreciated by 2.35 per cent, 0.89 per cent and 0.04 per cent respectively.

On the price movement chart, Courteville was the heaviest price loser, going down by 7.27 per cent to 51 kobo, UPDC fell by 7.27 per cent to N1.00, University Press dropped 5.41 per cent to N2.45, Unilever Nigeria declined by 4.36 per cent to N13.15, while BUA Foods shrank by 4.04 per cent to N61.80.

Presco was the biggest price gainer with 10.00 per cent growth to close at N104.50, NEM Insurance rose by 9.97 per cent to N3.31, Ikeja Hotel grew by 9.77 per cent to N1.46, Sunu Assurances inflated by 9.09 per cent to 36 kobo, while AIICO Insurance went up by 5.80 per cent to 73 kobo.

On the activity chart, GTCO was the most traded stock with the sale of 32.4 million stocks worth N887.6 million, Zenith Bank transacted 24.3 million shares for N653.5 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 22.3 million equities valued at N63.9 million, Transcorp sold 21.4 million shares for N24.9 million, while NGX Group traded 17.2 million equities worth N426.6 million.

At the close of transactions, investors traded 238.2 million units worth N5.1 billion in 4,826 deals compared with the 285.5 million units worth N5.1 billion in 5,342 deals, indicating a decline in the number of shares and deals by 16.56 per cent and 9.66 per cent respectively, while the value of trades closed flat.