By Dipo Olowookere
The bearish sentiment and profit-taking witnessed at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in the past few days continued as the domestic bourse closed lower by 0.47 per cent on Wednesday.
Investors shrugged off the statement made by the spokesman to President Bola Tinubu, Mr Ajuri Ngelale, that the government would retain the current pump price of N568 per litre without returning fuel subsidy despite the landing cost and others hitting N651 per litre.
This was because his media briefing at the State House on Tuesday concerning this issue left many Nigerians confused because selling below the landing cost literarily means the shortfall would be covered by the either the oil marketers or the government.
This ambiguity further pushed stock investors to cut their exposure to the asset class, leading to the loss suffered by the equity market yesterday.
A total of 291.7 million stocks valued at N7.4 billion were traded in 6,213 deals during the midweek session, in contrast to the 280.5 million stocks valued at N4.7 billion traded in 6,296 deals on Tuesday, implying a decline in the number of deals by 1.32 per cent, and a rise in the trading volume and value by 3.99 per cent and 57.45 per cent apiece.
Unlike the preceding session, GTCO closed yesterday as the most active stock after transacting 41.8 million units worth N1.6 billion, Universal Insurance traded 22.8 million units valued at N5.2 million, UBA transacted 22.6 million units worth N315.4 million, Sterling Holdings sold 21.6 million units for N77.0 million, and Transcorp exchanged 15.7 million units valued at N62.7 million.
The heaviest price loser for the session was NEM Insurance, which crashed by 10.00 per cent to N5.40, followed by Sunu Assurances, which lost 8.51 per cent to end at 86 Kobo. Guinea Insurance lost 7.89 per cent to trade at 35 Kobo, Cornerstone Insurance fell by 7.09 per cent to N1.31, and Omatek shed 5.88 per cent to quote at 32 Kobo.
Eterna closed the trading day as the biggest price advancer after it boosted its value by 10.00 per cent to N17.60, with CWG growing by 8.61 per cent to N3.28. FTN Cocoa expanded by 6.97 per cent to N2.15, Livestock Feeds increased by 5.56 per cent to N1.90, and Vitafoam gained 4.78 per cent to trade at N21.90.
Business Post observed that the financial services sector was responsible for the loss printed by the NGX on Wednesday as the insurance index shed 2.83 per cent and banking counter dropped 0.44 per cent.
At the market yesterday, the consumer goods space appreciated by 2.42 per cent and the energy sector improved by 0.36 per cent, while the industrial goods sector closed flat.
At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 303.70 points to 64,625.28 points from 64,928.98 points, while the market capitalisation increased by N13 billion to N35.370 trillion from N35.357 trillion due to the listing of additional shares of MTN Nigeria from the scrip dividends to shareholders.