Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The bears tightened their grip on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday, chopping off 0.34 per cent from the local bourse despite assurances from Mr Yemi Cardoso he would endeavour to ensure the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) restores its independence.
Mr Cardoso was confirmed as the new CBN Governor by the Senate yesterday and he promised to formulate evidence-based monetary policies, a departure from his predecessor, Mr Godwin Emefiele, who was accused of romancing the President and coming up with trial-and-error policies.
Business Post reports that investors were more interested in trimming their exposure to domestic equities during the session, especially in the banking and energy sectors.
This resulted in the banking index going down by 1.40 per cent, the energy counter losing 1.24 per cent, and the industrial goods space shedding 0.36 per cent.
The trio overpowered the 2.18 per cent growth posted by the insurance sector and the 0.16 per cent rise recorded by the consumer goods counter.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 230.47 points to 66,652.17 points from 66,882.64 points, and the market capitalisation depreciated by N126 billion to N36.479 trillion from Monday’s N36.605 trillion.
The market breadth was at equilibrium during the session after the exchange finished with 22 price gainers and 22 price losers led by Conoil, which lost 9.99 per cent to trade at N80.20.
FTN Cocoa declined by 9.95 per cent to N1.72, Oando depreciated by 9.81 per cent to N9.65, Berger Paints fell by 8.63 per cent to N11.65, and Lasaco Assurance shrank by 8.42 per cent to N1.85.
On the flip side, Cornerstone Insurance and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance led the advancers’ party after they chalked up 10.00 per cent each to close at N1.65 and N1.10 apiece.
UPDC REIT rose by 9.86 per cent to finish at N3.90, Beta Glass improved its value by 9.85 per cent to close at N51.30, and Courteville gained 9.09 per cent to quote at 60 Kobo.
Access Holdings topped the activity chart after it traded 50.0 million shares valued at N784.9 million, Transcorp transacted 48.5 million equities worth N291.2 million, UBA sold 45.7 million stocks for N787.4 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 21.6 million stocks valued at N681.6 million, and FTN Cocoa traded 15.8 million shares worth N28.1 million.
At the close of transactions, investors bought and sold 364.0 million equities valued at N4.5 billion in 7,018 deals versus the 408.2 million equities valued at N5.4 billion traded in 7,707 deals a day earlier.
This showed that the volume of trades, the value of transactions and the number of deals went down on Tuesday by 10.83 per cent, 16.67 per cent, and 8.94 per cent, respectively.
The stock market will not open for business today because of the public holiday declared by the federal government to observe Eid-ul-Maulud.
