By Dipo Olowookere
It was another disappointing day on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Thursday as the profit-taking witnessed lately persisted, causing another loss of 0.51 per cent.
Investors are struggling to have confidence in the market as the festive season draws closer and in the absence of a positive trigger, cautious trading has become the order of the day.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) further depleted by 215.18 points to close at 42,247.98 points compared with the previous day’s 42,463.16 points, while the market capitalisation declined by N112 billion to N22.045 trillion from N22.157 trillion.
Business Post observed that the investor sentiment was weak yesterday as there were 34 depreciating stocks and 17 appreciating equities led by Meyer, which rose by 10.00 per cent to 22 kobo.
NEM Insurance appreciated by 7.33 per cent to N2.05, Royal Exchange grew by 5.88 per cent to 54 kobo, Japaul improved by 5.26 per cent to 40 kobo, while Chams gained 4.76 per cent to trade at 22 kobo.
BOC Gases ended the day with the heaviest loss as its share price went down by 10.00 per cent to N9.45, UPDC continued its free-fall with a 9.09 per cent decline to sell for 90 kobo, Trans-nationwide Express fell by 8.99 per cent to 81 kobo, Livingtrust Mortgage Bank depleted by 8.33 per cent to 88 kobo, while Axa Mansard contracted by 7.89 per cent to N2.10.
Data from the exchange showed that apart from the consumer goods sector, which closed 0.08 per cent higher, every other sector were bearish on Thursday.
The energy index depreciated by 3.51 per cent, the insurance space lost 2.24 per cent, the banking counter went down by 1.18 per cent and the industrial goods sector declined by 0.10 per cent.
During the session, a total of 324.0 million shares worth N5.3 billion were traded in 4,706 deals compared with the 335.5 million shares worth N3.6 billion transacted in 3,891 deals a day earlier, indicating a decline in the trading volume by 3.42 per cent and an increase in the trading value and the number of deals by 49.02 per cent and 20.95 per cent respectively.
Again, FBN Holdings was the most traded stock with the sale of 113.4 million units valued at N1.4 billion, GTCO traded 33.5 million units worth N821.1 million, Access Bank exchanged 19.0 million units worth N170.7 million, Transcorp traded 18.1 million units valued at N18.2 million, while Zenith Bank traded 14.6 million units worth N346.5 million.
