Banking Stocks Weaken Domestic Market by 0.15%

By Dipo Olowookere

Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited closed bearish on Friday, shedding 0.15 per cent on the back of profit-taking in banking stocks and others.

The banking space lost 0.63 per cent, the insurance counter declined by 0.48 per cent, while the oil/gas sector depleted by 0.23 per cent, with the consumer goods index rising by 0.07 per cent and the industrial goods sector closing flat.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 70.55 points to 47,282.67 points from 47,353.22 points, while the market capitalisation went down by N38 billion to N25.483 trillion from N25.521 trillion.

As for the level of transactions, it was mixed yesterday as investors traded 600.0 million stocks worth N3.8 billion in 4,289 deals compared with the 239.7 million stocks worth N3.9 billion traded in 3,848 deals on Thursday, implying an increase in the trading volume by 150.07 per cent, a decrease in the trading value by 1.56 per cent and an uptick in the number of deals by 11.46 deals.

When activities were closed for the session, eTranzact finished as the most traded stock with 331.1 million units valued at N880.8 million.

Fidelity Bank exchanged 47.8 million units worth N143.1 million, FBN Holdings transacted 36.8 million units worth N435.5 million, Access Bank sold 29.5 million units valued at N289.4 million, while UBA transacted 28.2 million units valued at N241.9 million.

The worst-performing stock on Friday was MRS Oil as it lost 9.96 per cent to close at N12.20, Ikeja Hotel fell by 9.87 per cent to trade at N1.37, Coronation Insurance declined by 9.43 per cent to 48 kobo, Mutual Benefits Assurance depreciated by 7.41 per cent to 25 kobo, while Access Bank shed 5.77 per cent to N9.80.

On the flip side, PZ Cussons finished the session as the best-performing stock with a growth of 9.55 per cent to N8.60, CWG appreciated by 8.08 per cent to N1.07, Royal Exchange grew by 7.14 per cent to N1.20, Niger Insurance rose by 5.00 per cent to 21 kobo, while AIICO Insurance appreciated by 4.35 per cent to 72 kobo.

Business Post reports that the market breadth was negative yesterday as the investor sentiment was strongly weaker with 20 depreciating equities and 13 appreciating shares.