Local Stock Exchange Gives up 0.05% in First Trade After Christmas

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session after the 2024 Christmas break on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note on Friday.

The local stock exchange closed lower by 0.05 per cent during the trading session as the market participants embarked on profit-taking.

The sell-offs were prominent in the banking and energy sectors, crumbling by 1.16 per cent and 0.21 per cent, respectively.

However, the insurance index maintained its upward movement with a 2.31 per cent growth, as the consumer goods and industrial goods counters gained 0.15 per cent and 0.01 per cent apiece.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 52.73 points to 102,133.30 points from 102,186.03 points and the market capitalisation declined by N32 billion to N61.912 trillion from N61.944 trillion.

Despite the loss suffered by the bourse, investor sentiment was bullish after 45 equities ended on the gainers’ chart and 18 equities finished on the losers’ table, indicating a positive market breadth index.

Honeywell Flour shed 9.09 per cent to trade at N6.30, RT Briscoe waned by 5.66 per cent to N2.50, Neimeth slowed by 5.47 per cent to N1.90, Eterna gave up 5.00 per cent to settle at N28.50, and Tantalizers soured by 4.44 per cent to N1.72.

Conversely, University Press expanded by 10.00 per cent to N3.85, Coronation Insurance grew by 10.00 per cent to N1.87, Universal Insurance rose by 10.00 per cent to 55 Kobo, Ikeja Hotel jumped by 9.95 per cent to N12.15, and May and Baker inflated by 9.94 per cent to N9.40.

The busiest stock yesterday was UBA with 41.7 million units valued at N1.5 billion, Access Holdings traded 35.4 million units worth N871.3 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 33.3 million units valued at N1.5 billion, GTCO transacted 22.9 million units worth N1.3 billion and Jaiz Bank sold 19.2 million units for N57.2 million.

When trading activities ended for the session, the value of shares went down by 4.37 per cent to N17.5 billion from N18.3 billion, the volume of transactions increased by 4.61 per cent to 451.7 million shares from 431.8 million shares, and the number of deals surged by 49.97 per cent to 12,551 deals from 8,369 deals.