Local Equities Drown by 0.09% After N12 Loss

By Dipo Olowookere

The stock market was depressed on Tuesday following sustained profit-taking embarked upon by investors. This drowned the bourse by 0.09 percent at the close of business.

Equities in the insurance sector were the most hit and this brought its index down by 2.09 percent. The energy space lost 0.57 percent, consumer goods index decreased by 0.24 percent, while the banking counter dropped 0.11 percent. The industrial goods index appreciated by 1.03 percent.

For the benchmark index, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated yesterday by 23.37 points to 24,930.88 points, while the market capitalisation went down by N12 billion to settle at N13.006 trillion.

The activity chart was in red on Tuesday following the 15.68 percent loss in the trading volume, 1.47 percent decline in the trading value and 12.77 percent crash in the number of deals.

A total of 200.4 million stocks valued at N1.56 billion exchanged hands in 4,194 deals during the day as against the 237.7 million shares worth N1.61 billion traded in 4,808 deals the previous day.

FBN Holdings was the most active stock yesterday, trading 27.0 million units worth N139.9 million, while investors traded 22.6 million shares of Zenith Bank valued at N368.5 million.

FCMB transacted 21.3 million equities for N36.6 million, Lafarge Africa exchanged 11.9 million stocks for N129.9 million, while GTBank traded 11.5 million shares worth N272.0 million.

On the price movement chart, Flour Mills was the heaviest price loser, depreciating by N1.40 to close at N19.55 per share.

MTN Nigeria fell by N1 to finish at N115 per unit, Ardova crashed by 65 kobo to end at N13.75 per share, C&I Leasing depreciated by 45 kobo to sell at N4.35 per unit, while Neimeth went down by 23 kobo to N2.09 per share.

At the other side, BUA Cement finished the session as the highest price gainer, rising by 65 kobo to sell at N41.40 per unit.

Fidson gained 33 kobo to settle at N3.63 per unit, SAHCO grew by 22 kobo to N2.95 per share, Red Star Express appreciated by 17 kobo to N3.80 per unit, while Caverton gained 15 kobo to sell at N2.19 per share.