By Dipo Olowookere
The equity market reacted to the release of the much-awaited financial statements of Oando Plc on Tuesday, closing lower by 0.35 per cent, erasing the gains recorded a day earlier.
The investing community had been on the lookout for the financial results of the energy firm, especially after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) came hard on the company a few years ago over allegations of tampering with the documents to deceive investors.
Yesterday, the organisation, led by Mr Wale Tinubu, released some of its unaudited financial statements and the stocks came under selling pressure, landing on the losers’ chart at the close of transactions.
Business Post reports that Honeywell Flour topped the group after it lost 9.89 per cent to quote at N3.19, FBN Holdings depreciated by 9.88 per cent to N21.90, Oando shrank by 9.82 per cent to N10.10, FTN Cocoa retreated by 9.40 per cent to N1.35, and Nestle Nigeria cracked by 8.89 per cent to N820.00.
On the flip side, Sunu Assurances grew by 10.00 per cent to N1.10, Japaul rose by 9.84 per cent to N2.01, CAP expanded by 9.38 per cent to N26.25, Omatek increased by 9.21 per cent to 83 Kobo, and Prestige Assurance surged by 9.09 per cent to 60 Kobo.
When trading activities ended for the session at 2:30 pm on Tuesday, investor sentiment was bearish as 16 equities appreciated and 25 equities depreciated, implying a negative market breadth index.
The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was down by 353.51 points to 99,311.54 points from 99,665.05 points, and the market capitalisation declined by N200 billion to N56.167 trillion from N56.367 trillion.
The banking counter lost 2.94 per cent during the session, the consumer goods index shed 0.80 per cent, and the insurance sector declined by 0.51 per cent, while the industrial goods space appreciated by 0.30 per cent, with the energy sector flat.
The volume of shares increased by 87.35 per cent to 574.4 million units from 306.6 million units, the value of shares jumped by 47.17 N7.8 billion from N5.3 billion, and the number of deals went down by 11.74 per cent to 7,324 deals from 8,298 deals.
Modupe Gbadeyanka 
Adedapo Adesanya
[…] The equity market reacted to the release of the much-awaited financial statements of Oando Plc on Tuesday, closing lower by 0.35 per cent, erasing the gains recorded a day earlier. The investing community had been on the lookout for the financial results of the energy firm, especially after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) came hard… Read More […]