By Dipo Olowookere
Trading activity on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was weak on Wednesday as investors continued to play safe.
Some of the traders have retreated from the market, awaiting the release of the half-year results of market shakers like Dangote Cement, the tier-one banks and others.
As a result, the NGX depreciated by 0.03 per cent, causing the All-Share Index (ASI) to drop 11.12 points to 38,791.03 points from 38,802.15 points.
Equally, the market capitalisation went down at the midweek trading session by N6 billion to close at N20.211 trillion compared with the previous day’s N20.217 trillion.
Business Post reports that sell-offs in banking and insurance equities contributed to the decline as their respective indices depreciated by 0.96 per cent and 0.88 per cent.
But during the session, the energy sector appreciated by 1.68 per cent, while the consumer goods counter grew by 0.11 per cent, with the industrial goods index closing flat.
Consolidated Hallmark Insurance and Tripple Gee were the worst-performing stocks yesterday as they lost 10.00 per cent each to close at 54 kobo and 90 kobo respectively.
Pharma Deko depreciated by 9.92 per cent to trade at N1.09, Regency Alliance lost 6.82 per cent to sell for 41 kobo, while Eterna went down by 6.58 per cent to N7.10.
At the other side, Capital Hotels outperformed others after its value rose by 9.85 per cent to trade at N2.90 and was trailed by Oando, which gained 9.81 per cent to close at N5.26.
BOC Gases appreciated by 8.88 per cent to N9.20, FTN Cocoa grew by 8.16 per cent to 53 kobo, while Livestock Feeds improved by 4.80 per cent to N2.40.
At the close of business, investors traded 237.5 million shares worth N1.9 billion in 4,305 deals in contrast to the 243.1 million shares worth N1.9 billion transacted in 4,326 deals on Tuesday.
This indicated that while the trading volume and the number of deals depreciated by 2.29 per cent and 0.49 per cent respectively, the trading value closed flat.
It was observed that the demand for Oando stocks persisted after a settlement of its dispute with the apex capital market regulator, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
On Wednesday, the company was the most traded stock with the sale of 44.3 million units valued at N233.0 million, while UBA, which followed, traded 19.4 million units worth N150.8 million.
Wema Bank transacted 14.2 million units valued at N11.9 million, Access Bank traded 13.3 million units worth N123.7 million, while Jaiz Bank transacted 12.3 million units valued at N7.6 million.
