Customs Street Shells 0.69% on Sustained Profit-Taking

By Dipo Olowookere

The key performance indicators of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) remained bearish on Tuesday after a 0.69 per cent loss influenced by persistent profit-taking in the banking space.

Inflationary pressures and others are forcing investors to rebalance their portfolios as they make efforts to adjust to new realities.

Yesterday on Customs Street, the banking index closed 1.31 per cent lower, while the insurance sector depreciated by 0.06 per cent. The duo inflicted a loss on the exchange and weakened the impact of the 0.16 per cent growth posted by the consumer goods counter and the 0.04 per cent expansion printed by the industrial goods sector. The energy space closed flat during the session.

At the close of trades, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 346.49 points to 49,644.92 points from 49,991.41 points, while the market capitalisation fell by N187 billion to settle at N26.778 trillion in contrast to Monday’s N26.965 trillion.

Investor sentiment remained weak as most stocks came under selling pressure due to the need to book profit to minimise loss. A total of 18 equities retired on the decliners’ lodge, while 11 stocks were on the advancers’ chart.

NPF Microfinance Bank posted the highest loss as its value declined by 7.83 per cent to N1.53, Regency Assurance fell by 7.69 per cent to 24 Kobo, Livestock Feeds depreciated by 5.60 per cent to N1.18, NGX Group contracted by 4.76 per cent to N20.00, while Zenith Bank moderated by 3.57 per cent to N20.25.

Unilever Nigeria was the highest price gainer yesterday as its price rose by 9.43 per cent to N13.35, CAP grew by 7.58 per cent to N17.75, Chams expanded by 7.14 per cent to 30 Kobo, Sterling Bank improved by 5.48 per cent to N1.54, while Sovereign Trust Insurance gained 3.70 per cent to settle at 28 Kobo.

The activity chart was mixed on Tuesday as the trading volume shrank by 30.82 per cent to 139.0 million units from 200.9 million units, the trading value, however, increased 88.50 per cent to N2.7 billion from N1.5 billion, while the number of deals rose by 6.82 per cent to 4,247 deals from the preceding day’s 3,976 deals.

Sterling Bank maintained its position as the most traded stock yesterday after it transacted 18.3 million units valued at N27.4 million, while Transcorp trailed with the sale of 13.2 million units worth N14.0 million. Zenith Bank sold 12.5 million shares for N257.9 million, GTCO traded 9.2 million equities worth N183.1 million, and UBA exchanged 7.7 million stocks for N55.2 million.