Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The stock market succumbed to selling pressure on Wednesday after profit-taking shrank the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.75 per cent at the close of business.
The exchange was battered in the midweek session after investors offloaded cement shares in their portfolios, especially BUA Cement and Lafarge Africa.
As a result, the industrial goods sector went down by 3.40 per cent, while the banking index depreciated by 0.58 per cent, with the insurance counter declining by 0.21 per cent. However, the consumer goods space grew by 1.30 per cent, and the energy sector increased by 0.93 per cent.
Data revealed that the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 396.72 per cent yesterday to 52,209.06 points from 52,605.78 points, and the market capitalisation contracted by N216 billion to N28.428 trillion from N28.644 trillion.
Business Post reports that 554.3 million shares worth N6.0 billion exchanged hands in 5,168 deals on Wednesday compared with the 641.0 million shares worth N7.1 billion traded in 5,684 deals on Tuesday, showing a decline in the trading volume, value and the number of deals by 13.53 per cent, 15.49 per cent, and 9.08 per cent apiece.
Access Holdings topped the activity chart after it sold 139.3 million stocks valued at N1.5 billion, FBN Holdings traded 100.8 million equities valued at N1.2 billion, FCMB exchanged 80.2 million shares for N326.5 million, UBA traded 42.9 million shares worth N343.9 million, and Zenith Bank transacted 24.5 million equities valued at N593.8 million.
It was observed that despite the setback today, investor sentiment remained strong, with the stock exchange closing with 34 price gainers and 20 price losers, indicating a positive market breadth.
Caverton lost 9.48 per cent to trade at N1.05, Sunu Assurance declined by 9.26 per cent to 49 Kobo, BUA Cement crashed by 8.02 per cent to N90.00, Academy Press moderated by 7.88 per cent to N1.52, and Africa Prudential decreased by 4.46 per cent to N5.35.
Conversely, Ardova gained 10.00 per cent to finish at N22.00, NCR Nigeria rose by 9.91 per cent to N2.33, Transcorp improved by 9.69 per cent to N2.15, Japaul grew by 9.68 per cent to 34 Kobo, and CWG expanded by 9.43 per cent to N1.74.
