By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-taking continued on Thursday on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited, leading to a 0.03 per cent decline at the close of transactions.
Shares of BUA Cement, Oando, FBN Holdings, Fidelity Bank and 12 others came under selling pressure during the session and were responsible for the fall recorded by the market.
Multiverse lost 10.00 per cent to sell for N1.71, Lasaco Assurance depreciated by 7.07 per cent to 92 Kobo, FTN Cocoa went down by 6.25 per cent to 30 Kobo, BUA Cement fell by 4.51 per cent to N58.25, while Unity Bank declined by 4.44 per cent to trade at 43 Kobo.
Conversely, PZ Cussons posted the biggest gain as its value rose by 10.00 per cent to trade at N9.35, Honeywell Flour grew by 9.64 per cent to N2.73, Stanbic IBTC appreciated by 9.15 per cent to N31.00, Coronation Insurance went up by 8.11 per cent to 40 Kobo, while Sovereign Trust Insurance climbed higher by 8.00 per cent to 27 Kobo.
The banking sector rose by 2.07 per cent, while the consumer goods counter appreciated by 0.06 per cent. However, the industrial goods space lost 1.57 per cent as the insurance and energy sectors depreciated by 0.05 per cent each.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 12.67 points to 50,582.30 points from 50,594.97 points, while the market capitalisation depleted by N7 billion to N27.277 trillion from N27.284 trillion.
A total of 130.5 million stocks valued at N1.6 billion were traded in 3,993 deals in contrast to the 121.2 million stocks valued at N4.2 billion transacted in 4,369 deals on Wednesday, indicating an increase in the trading volume by 7.66 per cent and a decline in the trading value and the number of deals by 61.08 per cent and 8.61 per cent respectively.
AIICO Insurance traded 16.3 million shares worth N9.4 million, Transcorp transacted 11.2 million stocks valued at N12.9 million, Access Holdings exchanged 9.7 million equities valued at N87.6 million, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance traded 7.5 million stocks worth N4.7 million, while Japaul sold 6.9 million equities valued at N2.1 million.
