Customs Street Falls 0.48% as Investors Offload Financial Stocks

By Dipo Olowookere

Sustained profit-taking in financial stocks further weakened the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday, as investors keep an eye on happenings in the macroeconomic environment.

Business Post reports that Customs Street depreciated by 0.48 per cent yesterday due to selling pressure, causing investor sentiment to turn bearish.

It was observed that 28 equities ended on the losers’ chart and 15 equities finished on the gainers’ table, indicating a negative market breath index.

At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 475.18 points to 98,228.50 points from 98,703.68 points, and the market capitalisation declined by N268 billion to N55.555 trillion from N55.823 trillion.

Unity Bank recorded the biggest fall during the trading day, 10.00 per cent, closing at N1.62, and was followed by FBN Holdings, which depreciated by 9.91 per cent to N25.45. Champion Breweries shrank by 9.78 per cent to N3.32, Livestock Feeds dropped 9.71 per cent to N1.58, and Coronation Insurance waned by 9.33 per cent to 68 Kobo.

Conversely, the trio of May and Baker, Japaul, and Presco gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N6.60, N2.09, and N291.50, respectively, FTN Cocoa appreciated by 8.16 per cent to N1.59, and Wema Bank increased by 7.28 per cent to N8.10.

The banking index declined by 3.11 per cent during the session, the insurance counter fell by 1.48 per cent, and the consumer goods space slumped by 0.66 per cent, while the energy and industrial goods sectors closed flat.

A total of 425.7 million shares valued at N8.4 billion were traded in 9,620 deals on Tuesday compared with the 421.7 million shares worth N9.0 billion transacted in 10,624 deals in the preceding day, representing a rise in the trading volume by 0.95 per cent, and a decline in the trading value and the number of deals by 6.67 per cent, and 9.45 per cent apiece.

The busiest stock was UBA with the sale of 102.2 million units valued at N2.7 billion, Access Holdings transacted 49.2 million units worth N878.4 million, Transcorp traded 30.1 million units valued at N394.8 million, Japaul exchanged 28.8 million units worth N59.1 million, and AIICO Insurance sold 22.7 million units for N22.8 million.