Bears Regain Control of Nigerian Stock Market, Reverse Growth by 0.90%

By Dipo Olowookere

The bears took charge of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday, bringing it down by 0.90 per cent at the close of trades.

This was due to renewed profit-taking at the Nigerian stock market, especially across all the sectors, with the energy index losing 0.48 per cent when the closing gong was beaten by 2:30 pm.

The banking counter lost 0.44 per cent, the insurance sector went down by 0.34 per cent, the consumer goods space depreciated by 0.02 per cent, and the industrial goods counter decreased by 0.01 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) moderated by 471.43 points to 52,109.43 points from 52,580.86 points, and the market capitalisation deflated by N257 billion to N28.374 trillion from N28.631 trillion.

Investor sentiment was weak yesterday after the market breadth finished in the red territory due to the dominance of the bears on the bulls.

The stock exchange closed with 22 appreciating stocks and 27 depreciating stocks led by Academy Press, which fell by 10.00 per cent to trade at N1.53. Ardova declined by 9.88 per cent to N22.35, McNichols shrank by 9.33 per cent to 68 Kobo, Honeywell Flour dropped 8.62 per cent to close at N2.65, and Regency Alliance contracted by 6.25 per cent to 30 Kobo.

On the flip side, ABC Transport gained 10.00 per cent to finish at 44 Kobo, MRS Oil improved by 9.97 per cent to N40.80, NPF Microfinance Bank appreciated by 9.38 per cent to N1.75, Courteville rose by 9.30 per cent to 47 Kobo, and Tripple Gee expanded by 9.26 per cent to N2.95.

During the session, investors transacted 334.2 million stocks worth N5.2 billion in 5,350 deals compared with the 680.8 million stocks worth N7.9 billion traded in 6,666 deals on Wednesday, showing a decline in the trading volume, value and the number of deals by 50.91 per cent, 34.18 per cent, and 19.74 per cent apiece.