Customs Street Stumbles by 0.34% as Bears Affirm Authority

By Dipo Olowookere

Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further ended on a negative note on Thursday with a 0.34 per cent decline.

Sustained profit-taking in Oando and other equities crashed Customs Street during the session as investors sell off after making gains from the energy stock, which has witnessed renewed interest due to its acquisition of oil assets of the Nigerian Agip Oil Company (NAOC) from Eni, an Italian energy firm.

Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained weak after the bourse finished with 29 price losers and 20 price gainers, implying a negative market breadth index.

RT Briscoe lost 10.00 per cent to sell for N2.34, FTN Cocoa depleted by 9.80 per cent to N1.38, Oando declined by 9.65 per cent to N74.00, Deap Capital weakened by 9.57 per cent to N1.04, and Guinea Insurance stumbled by 9.09 per cent to 50 Kobo.

On the other side of the coin, the trio of Berger Paints, McNichols and Meyer gained 10.00 per cent each to settle at N17.05, N1.43, and N5.83, respectively, and Tantalizers grew by 7.81 per cent to 69 Kobo, while DAAR Communications improved by 7.58 per cent to 71 Kobo.

It was observed that amid the selling pressure, the insurance and energy sectors witnessed bargain-hunting, closing higher by 0.10 per cent and 0.06 per cent, respectively.

However, the duo could not prevent the bears from tightening their grip on the stock exchange after the banking index fell by 0.81 per cent, the consumer goods space crumbled by 0.39 per cent, and the industrial goods counter dwindled by 0.01 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 327.28 points to 96,210.20 points from 96,537.48 points and the market capitalisation shrank by N188 billion to settle at N55.266 trillion compared with the previous day’s N55.454 trillion.

A total of 388.6 million equities worth N9.6 billion exchanged hands in 9,897 deals versus the 389.2 million equities valued at N8.2 billion transacted in 12,039 deals on Wednesday, representing a rise in the trading value by 17.07 per cent, and a decline in the trading volume and number of deals by 0.15 per cent and 17.79 per cent, respectively.

The most actively traded stock by volume for the trading session was Zenith Bank with a turnover of 56.6 million units valued at N2.1 billion, followed by Oando with 43.0 million units worth N3.2 billion, GTCO exchanged 28.5 million units for N1.3 billion, FTN Cocoa sold 25.4 million units for N35.8 million, and UBA transacted 21.6 million units worth N503.7 million.