By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited succumbed to the bears as it reversed the gains of the previous sessions by losing 0.31 per cent on Tuesday due to renewed profit-taking.
The bears chopped off N86 billion from the market capitalisation of the bourse as it slipped back to the N27 trillion region, closing at N27.928 trillion compared with the previous day’s N28.014 trillion.
The All-Share Index (ASI), which was looking to cross the 52,000 points, went down yesterday by 158.87 points to settle at 51,803.98 points in contrast to the 51,962.85 points it finished on Monday.
The outcome of the key sectors of the market reflected the general mood as the energy index lost 0.47 per cent, the insurance space fell by 0.06 per cent, the industrial goods counter depreciated by 0.03 per cent, while the banking sector went down by 0.02 per cent. The consumer goods counter appreciated during the session by 0.29 per cent due to the good performances of Nigerian Breweries and Okomu Oil.
During the session, investors traded 314.6 million shares valued at N12.9 billion in 4,708 deals compared with the 266.5 million shares worth N2.6 billion traded in 5,050 deals on Monday, representing an increase in the trading volume and value by 18.05 per cent and 393.67 per cent respectively and a 6.77 per cent decline in the number of trades.
Livingtrust Mortgage Bank closed the session as the most active stock yesterday with the sale of 100.0 million shares valued at N120.0 million and was trailed by MTN Nigeria with a turnover of 42.9 million equities worth N9.9 billion.
FBN Holdings transacted 19.8 million shares for N219.1 million, UBA traded 16.1 million stocks for N120.0 million, while Zenith Bank sold 16.1 million equities for N348.9 million.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment was weak on Tuesday as the exchange closed the session with 19 depreciating equities and 10 appreciating stocks.
University Press lost 9.72 per cent to trade at N2.60, NGX Group fell by 6.71 per cent to N22.95, Caverton depreciated by 4.76 per cent to N1.00, Livestock Feeds went down by 3.57 per cent to N1.35, while Fidelity Bank declined by 3.53 per cent to N3.28.
At the close of transactions, Sovereign Trust Insurance gained 8.00 per cent to quote at 27 kobo, Chams grew by 4.17 per cent to 25 kobo, Regency Assurance improved by 3.85 per cent to 27 kobo, Ecobank appreciated by 3.29 per cent to N11.00, while Okomu Oil rose by 3.29 per cent to N216.90.
