By Dipo Olowookere
Nigerian stocks finally succumbed to the bears on Thursday after they closed the trading session 0.14 per cent lower due to profit-taking activities by investors.
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited crumbled during the session as traders were worried about the warning signs about the country’s economy.
Even the defence put up by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) about the nation’s external reserves in reaction to JP Morgan’s revelation did nothing to convince them that all is well.
Happenings at the foreign exchange (FX) market were enough that the apex bank may not have the capacity to defend the Naira because of the weak reserves. The local currency was already trading above N900 to a Dollar in the parallel market and the peer-to-peer (P2P) segments.
It was observed that equities put up for sale yesterday struggled to get buyers, leading to a shortage in the All-Share Index (ASI) by 90.99 points to 65,401.82 points from 65,492.81 points and a decline in the market capitalisation by N50 billion to N35.795 trillion from N35.845 trillion.
Business Post reports that the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.96 per cent in the midst of the sell-offs, though it could not salvage the situation.
This was because the banking space lost 1.81 per cent, the insurance sector declined by 0.24 per cent, the energy counter fell by 0.09 per cent, and the industrial goods space shed 0.08 per cent.
A look at the market breadth index reflected the true mood of Customs Street as it was bearish, with 39 price losers and 19 price gainers, representing a weak investor sentiment.
FTN Cocoa suffered the heaviest loss after it went down by 9.95 per cent to N1.81, Red Star Express depreciated by 9.93 per cent to N2.63, Learn Africa shed 9.88 per cent to N3.65, Northern Nigerian Flour Mill shrank by 8.30 per cent to N11.05, and Veritas Kapital depleted by 7.69 per cent to 24 Kobo.
Conversely, the quintet of Dangote Sugar, NASCON, CWG, Transcorp, and Omatek gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N44.00, N40.70, N4.95, N5.28, and 33 Kobo, respectively.
Again, Transcorp topped the activity chart after it traded 144.5 million shares worth N724.3 million, Sterling Bank transacted 63.3 million equities valued at N213.6 million, Access Holdings exchanged 54.7 million stocks for N880.0 million, GTCO traded 42.8 million shares valued at N1.5 billion, and Fidelity Bank sold 32.2 million stocks for N225.2 million.
At the close of transactions, traders bought and sold 583.1 million equities worth N12.9 billion in 6,968 deals compared with the 348.3 million equities worth N4.1 billion traded in 6,237 deals on Wednesday, implying an increase in the trading volume, value, and the number of deals by 67.41 per cent, 214.6 per cent, and 11.72 per cent apiece.
Adedapo Adesanya