Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
Bearish activity persisted at Customs Street, Lagos, on Thursday, pulling down the domestic market by 0.30 per cent at the close of transactions.
Investors reacted to the judgement of the Presidential Election Petitions Tribunal (PEPT) on Wednesday. The appeal court upheld the victory of President Bola Tinubu in the February 25 presidential poll.
The two main opposition parties, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the Labour Party (LP), rejected the outcome of the tribunal, vowing to appeal it at the apex court.
With a last hurdle left to scale through, traders are still cautious, rebalancing their portfolios. This was reflected in how they traded yesterday at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
Analysis of the activity chart showed it was mixed during the session, as the trading volume went down by 0.16 per cent, while the trading value and the number of deals went up by 52.73 per cent and 5.67 per cent apiece.
Investors transacted 378.1 million shares worth N8.4 billion in 8,106 deals compared with the 378.7 million shares worth N5.5 billion traded in 7,671 deals a day earlier.
The toast of traders remained Oando yesterday as it traded 91.6 million equities valued at N679.0 million, followed by Omatek, which sold 30.0 million stocks valued at N19.2 million.
Further, Dangote Sugar exchanged 23.4 million stocks worth N1.5 billion, Fidelity Bank traded 22.2 million shares for N193.6 million, and Access Holdings transacted 20.8 million equities valued at N361.9 million.
Unlike the preceding session, investor sentiment was weak on Thursday as the stock exchange closed with 30 depreciating stocks and 26 appreciating stocks, representing a negative market breadth index.
Morison Industries lost 9.89 per cent to trade at N2.55, Courteville shed 7.69 per cent to 60 Kobo, NASCON fell by 6.83 per cent to N56.60, RT Briscoe depreciated by 6.82 per cent to 41 Kobo, and Wema Bank dropped 6.42 per cent to N5.10.
Conversely, Beta Glass was the best performer as it gained 9.97 per cent to close at N51.85, Cadbury Nigeria improved by 9.86 per cent to N15.60, CWG appreciated by 9.81 per cent to N5.26, Tantalizers grew by 9.52 per cent to 46 Kobo, and Guinea Insurance jumped by 9.09 per cent to 36 Kobo.
Business Post reports that at the close of transactions, the market capitalisation of the bourse declined by N112 billion to settle at N37.262 trillion versus the midweek session’s N37.374 trillion, and the All-Share Index (ASI) dropped 204.17 points to close at 68,082.11 points compared with Wednesday’s 68,286.28 points.
