Equity Market Sheds 0.33% as Investors Sell off BUA Cement, 21 Others

By Dipo Olowookere

Twenty-two stocks ended on the losers’ chart on Friday at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, outweighing the 11 equities that finished on the gainers’ log.

The weak investor sentiment further plunged the market into the danger zone by 0.33 per cent at the close of transactions, data from the exchange indicated.

It was observed that the equity market has remained bearish despite the recent gains in banking shares. The sustained sell-offs in the industrial goods space have continued to put the bourse under pressure.

The industrial goods sector depreciated yesterday by 1.61 per cent, the insurance counter lost 0.46 per cent, the energy index declined by 0.46 per cent, while the banking and consumer goods sectors appreciated by 0.85 per cent and 0.10 per cent, respectively.

The All-Share Index (ASI) decreased at the close of business by 163.72 points to 49,026.62 points from 49,190.34 points as the market capitalisation went down by N88 billion to N26.445 trillion from N26.533 trillion.

A total of 169.2 million stocks worth N3.2 billion were transacted on Friday in 3,206 deals compared with the 126.8 million stocks worth N1.8 billion traded in 3,117 deals on Thursday, indicating an improvement in the trading volume, value and number of deals by 33.38 per cent, 79.16 per cent and 2.86 per cent, respectively.

Courteville ended the day as the busiest stock after it transacted 27.7 million units valued at N12.5 million, NGX Group traded 24.5 million units worth N417.4 million, Zenith Bank transacted 20.8 million units worth N416.8 million, Transcorp exchanged 11.2 million units valued at N11.6 million, while Jaiz Bank sold 10.9 million units for N8.7 million.

The worst-performing stock was CWG as its value depleted by 10.00 per cent to 81 Kobo, Berger Paints lost 9.85 per cent to N5.95, Eterna went down by 9.45 per cent to N5.75, Sunu Assurances declined by 8.57 per cent to 32 Kobo, while Chams dropped 6.90 per cent to 27 Kobo.

The best-performing stock yesterday was Vitafoam, which grew by 6.90 per cent to N22.45, followed by RT Briscoe, which appreciated by 6.06 per cent to 35 Kobo. Access Holdings improved by 6.02 per cent to N8.80, Cornerstone Insurance expanded by 3.70 per cent to 56 Kobo, while Fidelity Bank rose by 3.00 per cent to N3.78.