Customs Street Firms by 0.23% Despite Profit-Taking in Insurance Sector

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further appreciated by 0.23 per cent on Tuesday despite witnessing profit-taking in the insurance sector.

The index for shares under the underwriting arm of the domestic stock exchange was down by 0.18 per cent during the session due to selling pressure.

However, it did not affect the general outcome of Customs Street as the other sectors patched up the gap, though the commodity counter closed flat.

Yesterday, the banking space grew by 0.73 per cent, the consumer goods industry expanded by 0.48 per cent, the energy index also improved by 0.48 per cent, and the industrial goods sector rose by 0.09 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) went up by 321.59 points to 141,761.36 points from 141,439.77 points and the market capitalisation grew by N204 billion to N89.697 trillion from N89.493 trillion.

Business Post reports that investors bought and sold 605.0 million shares for N12.9 billion in 28,845 deals on Tuesday versus the 591.3 million shares valued at N11.7 billion traded in 33,342 deals on Monday, representing a fall in the number of deals by 13.45 per cent, and an improvement in the volume and value of transactions by 2.32 per cent and 10.26 per cent apiece.

The busiest stock yesterday was FCMB with a turnover of 89.3 million units valued at N980.8 million, Veritas Kapital transacted 68.5 million units for N154.2 million, AIICO Insurance exchanged 36.2 million units worth N152.5 million, Secure Electronic Technology sold 27.3 million units valued at N27.1 million, and Mutual Benefits traded 23.5 million units worth N105.0 million.

The biggest price gainer for the session was NCR Nigeria with a price appreciation of 10.00 per cent to settle at N11.55, SFS REIT gained 9.99 per cent to close at N301.55, Berger Paints increased its value by 9.06 per cent to N34.90, Beta Glass jumped by 8.16 per cent to N486.00, and Cadbury Nigeria soared by 8.04 per cent to N62.50.

Conversely, Legend Internet slipped by 10.00 per cent to suffer the heaviest loss, closing at N5.40, and was followed by Electronic Technology, which gave up 9.26 per cent to quote at 98 Kobo. Cutix shed 8.97 per cent to finish at N3.55, UAC Nigeria depreciated by 8.69 per cent to N73.00, and Deap Capital tumbled by 8.29 per cent to N1.66.

The market breadth index was negative yesterday after the bourse finished with 27 appreciating stocks and 33 depreciating stocks, implying a weak investor sentiment.