Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Weak investor sentiment on Thursday weakened the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.08 per cent on the back of renewed profit-taking across the key sectors of the market.
The All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 35.72 points yesterday to close at 44,011.22 points compared with the preceding day’s 44,046.94 points, as the market capitalisation went down by N19 billion to end at N23.972 trillion versus Wednesday’s value of N23.991 trillion.
Business Post reports that the insurance counter grew by 0.17 per cent during the session, but the losses from other counters suppressed its growth.
The banking space lost 0.96 per cent, the energy index depreciated by 0.83 per cent, the consumer goods sector went down by 0.49 per cent, and the industrial goods sector declined by 0.09 per cent.
Yesterday, the level of activity reduced as investors traded 97.7 million shares worth N847.9 million in 2,980 deals, in contrast to the 159.4 million shares worth N2.9 billion traded in 3,039 deals in the midweek trading day, indicating a decline in the trading volume, value and number of trades by 38.72 per cent, 70.36 per cent, and 1.94 per cent, respectively.
Transcorp finished the session as the most active stock with the sale of 10.7 million units, Access Holdings traded 8.1 million units, Sterling Bank transacted 7.4 million units, GTCO exchanged 7.0 million units, and NAHCO sold 7.0 million units.
The market breadth ended negative on Thursday as there were 13 price gainers and 21 price losers led by Guinness Nigeria, which fell by 9.97 per cent to N60.50, SCOA Nigeria lost 9.79 per cent to trade at N1.29, ABC Transport depreciated by 8.00 per cent to 23 Kobo, United Capital declined by 5.83 per cent to N11.30, and Oando dropped 5.76 per cent to N3.60.
On the other hand, Unilever Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N11.00, Stanbic IBTC rose by 9.09 per cent to N30.00, University Press appreciated by 8.93 per cent to N1.83, Sovereign Trust Insurance went up by 8.33 per cent to 26 Kobo, and Royal Exchange increased by 6.85 per cent to 78 Kobo.
