Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The stock market closed bearish on Thursday after Nigerian equities slightly slumped by 0.01 per cent on the back of mild profit-taking by investors.
Yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 5.65 points to settle at 37,866.90 points compared with 37,872.55 points of the preceding session.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation went down by N3 billion to close at N19.729 trillion as against the N19.732 trillion it ended at the previous trading day.
It was observed that market participants decided to stay away from the market for now and this resulted in weak trading activity as shares worth less than N1 billion exchanged hands.
According to data obtained by Business Post, 160.0 million equities worth N927.9 million were transacted in 3,038 deals on Thursday in contrast to the 197.2 million equities worth N2.1 billion traded in 3,610 deals on Wednesday.
This showed that the trading volume went down by 18.88 per cent, the trading value depreciated by 56.64 per cent, while the number of deals declined by 15.84 per cent.
Sovereign Trust Insurance finished the day as the most active stock with the sale of 15.0 million shares valued at N4.8 million, while Fidelity Bank, which followed, transacted 13.5 million shares worth N32.2 million.
Coronation Insurance traded 12.0 million equities valued at N6.5 million, UPDC exchanged 11.3 million stocks for N15.3 million, while Courtville traded 9.8 million stocks worth N2.2 million.
Despite the marginal loss recorded during the session, the market breadth closed positive, with 16 price losers and 18 price gainers, indicating that investor sentiment was still positive.
Sovereign Trust Insurance closed as the best-performing stock as its equity price went up during the session by 10.00 per cent to settle at 33 kobo.
FTN Cocoa gained 9.76 per cent to trade at 45 kobo, CWG appreciated by 9.65 per cent to quote at N1.25, AIICO Insurance rose by 9.52 per cent to N1.15, while Red Star Express improved by 8.04 per cent to N3.36.
On the flip side, Ikeja Hotel finished the session as the worst-performing equity after its value went down by 9.29 per cent to settle at N1.27.
UPDC declined by 9.09 per cent to N1.30, Coronation Insurance lost 8.47 per cent to trade at 54 kobo, University Press dropped 7.24 per cent to sell for N1.41, while Unity Bank declined by 6.35 per cent to quote at 59 kobo.
