By Dipo Olowookere
Shares of Dangote Cement, MTN Nigeria and 13 others further weakened the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday by 2.26 per cent as investors continue to rebalance their portfolios in order to reduce their risk in equity investments.
The sustained sell-offs in this asset class trimmed the All-Share Index (ASI) by 1,139.02 points yesterday to 49,350.71 points from 50,489.73 points as the market capitalisation decreased by N615 billion to N26.618 trillion from N27.233 trillion.
Cornerstone Insurance recorded the biggest fall on Tuesday, dropping 9.33 per cent to close at 68 Kobo and was trailed by Dangote Cement, which declined by 9.06 per cent to N241.00. Japaul went down by 8.11 per cent to 34 Kobo, Sovereign Trust Insurance reduced by 7.41 per cent to 25 Kobo, while Stanbic IBTC retreated by 6.45 per cent to N29.00.
On the other side, Prestige Assurance gained 10.00 per cent to quote at 44 Kobo, NEM Insurance grew by 10.00 per cent to N3.74, Ellah Lakes rose by 9.78 per cent to N3.93, Multiverse appreciated by 9.57 per cent to N2.06, while Ikeja Hotel improved by 9.28 per cent to N1.06.
In the end, a total of 15 stocks weakened in value during the session, while 12 stocks gained strength, indicating a negative market breadth and a weak investor sentiment.
Analysis of the sectorial performance showed that the industrial goods counter was responsible for the loss yesterday as its index went down by 4.83 per cent. Its consumer goods cousin fell by 0.29 per cent, while the energy sector dropped 0.27 per cent, with the banking and insurance sectors appreciating by 0.60 per cent and 0.24 per cent respectively.
Japaul was the busiest during the trading day as it sold 23.2 million stocks worth N9.0 million and was trailed by AIICO Insurance, which traded 14.9 million shares valued at N8.5 million. Sterling Bank exchanged 14.3 million equities for N21.4 million, Sovereign Trust Insurance traded 10.1 million shares for N2.6 million, while GTCO traded 7.9 million equities valued at N161.0 million.
At the close of trades, 140.6 million shares worth N1.6 billion were transacted in 3,895 deals in contrast to the 207.2 million shares worth N2.1 billion transacted in 4,234 deals on Monday. This implied that the volume of shares, the value of shares and the number of deals depreciated by 32.14 per cent, 24.50 per cent and 8.01 per cent respectively.
