Economy
Investors Lose N693Nbn as Stock Market Bleeds
By Dipo Olowookere
For the third session this week, the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended in red after it gave up 0.70 per cent on Wednesday as a result of heavy selling pressure.
Investors booked profit after deciding to reduce their exposure to Nigerian equities in the absence of a compelling positive trigger during the trading day.
Consequently, the market capitalisation of Customs Street came down by N693 billion to N97.914 trillion from the previous day’s N98.607 trillion and the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 1,092.22 points to 154,260.98 points from 155,353.20 points.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment was significantly weak yesterday after the bourse finished with 20 price gainers and 46 price losers, showing a negative market breadth index.
Beta Glass lost 10.00 per cent a day after it announced the completion of the rebuilding of its DF1 Furnace at its factory in Delta State to trade at N437.40. John Holt also declined by 10.00 per cent to N5.40, eTranzact depleted by 9.67 per cent to N13.55, Champion Breweries slumped by 8.81 per cent to N14.50, and Ikeja Hotel slipped by 8.68 per cent to N17.35.
Conversely, Deap Capital gained 9.70 per cent to close at N1.81, Aso Savings appreciated by 8.86 per cent to 86 Kobo, McNichols grew by 6.67 per cent to N3.20, Caverton rose by 6.14 per cent to N6.40, and Okomu Oil soared by 5.90 per cent to N1,080.20.
Trading data of the stock market showed that the volume of trades went down by 13.82 per cent to 452.9 million shares from the previous session’s 525.5 million shares, the value of transactions went up by 41.73 per cent, and the number of deals decreased by 14.73 per cent.
Tantalizers led the activity chart after it traded 56.7 million units valued at N131.3 million, Sovereign Trust Insurance sold 46.1 million units worth N217.6 million, Access Holdings transacted 38.6 million units for N896.9 million, GTCO exchanged 34.0 million units valued at N3.1 billion, and Zenith Bank transacted 17.0 million units worth N1.1 billion.
