By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited succumbed to fresh selling pressure on Monday as investors promptly offloaded some stocks that have gained weight in the past trading sessions.
Investor sentiment was weak yesterday as the market breadth closed bearish with 12 price advancers and 16 price decliners led by ABC Transport which fell by 9.68 per cent to 28 Kobo.
Japaul went down by 9.09 per cent to 30 Kobo, NGX Group fell by 4.55 per cent to N21.00, Lafarge Africa declined by 4.20 per cent to N23.95, while Cutix contracted by 3.77 per cent to quote at N2.04.
On the flip side, Chams gained 7.69 per cent to quote at 28 Kobo, Flour Mills appreciated by 4.46 per cent to close at N29.30, Nigerian Breweries improved by 3.72 per cent to N48.75, Pharma-Deko increased its value by 2.63 per cent to N1.95, while NPF Microfinance Bank went up by 2.47 per cent to N1.66.
It was observed that the losses recorded yesterday were influenced by profit-taking in the banking and industrial goods sub-sector of the exchange.
The banking space lost 0.91 per cent, the industrial goods counter depreciated by 0.35 per cent, the insurance sector went down by 0.07 per cent, while the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.55 per cent, with the energy counter closing flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) moderated by 54.42 points to 49,991.41 points from 50,045.83 points, while the market capitalisation depreciated by N29 billion to N26.965 trillion from N26.994 trillion.
Yesterday, a total of 200.9 million stocks valued at N1.5 billion were traded in 3,976 deals in contrast to the 240.0 million stocks worth N2.7 billion transacted in 3,435 deals in the previous session, indicating an increase in the number of deals by 15.75 per cent, while the trading volume and value depreciated by 16.29 per cent and 46.00 per cent respectively.
Sterling Bank recorded the highest trading volume after selling 90.9 million equities valued at N131.9 million, Fidelity Bank traded 11.6 million shares worth N39.7 million, UBA exchanged 10.7 million stocks worth N76.8 million, GTCO sold 10.0 million shares for N199.2 million, while Zenith Bank traded 9.5 million equities valued at N203.1 million.
