Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed bearish on Tuesday by 0.07 per cent as a result of the decline in the prices of 21 equities listed on the bourse.
The general bearish outcome occurred despite the persistent positive investor sentiment as the prices of 43 shares appreciated at the close of business.
Business Post observed that the decline suffered by the exchange was influenced by the sell-off in the banking, energy and industrial goods sectors, which closed lower by 0.73 per cent, 0.46 per cent and 0.36 per cent respectively.
The losses recorded by these counters outweighed the gains printed by the insurance and consumer goods sectors, which rose by 6.29 per cent and 0.56 per cent respectively.
At the close of trading activities, the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 30.75 points to settle at 41,051.63 points as against the 41,082.38 points it finished on Monday.
Also, the market capitalisation went down by N16 billion to end at N21.475 trillion compared with N21.491 trillion it settled at the preceding day.
Ardova was the worst-performing stock yesterday as it depreciated by N1.70 to sell at N18 per unit, while BUA Cement went down by 90 kobo to trade at N79 per share.
UAC Nigeria declined by 45 kobo to sell for N7.90 per unit, Access Bank fell by 35 kobo to settle at N9.25 per share, while UBA depreciated by 20 kobo to end at N8.90 per unit.
At the other end, Nigerian Breweries and Flour Mills appreciated by N1 each to settle at N61 per share and N32 per unit respectively.
Northern Nigerian Flour Mills gained 59 kobo to trade at N8 per unit, Presco rose by 50 kobo to finish at N74.50 per unit, while Lafarge Africa improved by 50 kobo to quote at N24.50 per share.
On the activity chart, the number of deals reduced by 10.35 per cent to 5,965 deals from 7,396 deals on Tuesday, the number of shares traded by investors declined by 28.91 per cent to 525.0 million units from 738.5 million units, while the value of the traded stocks increased by 27.90 per cent to N5.3 billion from N4.2 billion.
Transcorp finished the session as the most active stock with the sale of 42.9 million shares worth N50.2 million, while Japaul transacted 39.6 million stocks valued at N50.9 million.
Zenith Bank exchanged 28.5 million equities worth N746.0 million, BUA Cement sold 25.7 million shares valued at N2.1 billion, while Courtville traded 22.0 million stocks for N5.3 million.
