Nigerian Exchange Loses 1.49% to Profit-Taking

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited succumbed to profit-taking on Tuesday, declining by 1.49 per cent as a result of selling pressure from investors.

Analysis showed that the exchange crumbled following the desire of traders to liquidate their equities after the barrage of gains recorded in the past few trading sessions.

The strong sell interest cut across the major sectors of the bourse, with the financial segment mostly affected after the banking index declined by 6.73 per cent and the insurance space fell by 6.44 per cent.

Business Post reports the consumer goods counter went down by 2.59 per cent, the energy index depreciated by 0.58 per cent, and the industrial goods counter shrank by 0.39 per cent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) depleted by 1,564.52 points to close at 103,110.15 points compared with the previous day’s 104,674.67 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N856 billion to settle at N56.426 trillion compared with the previous day’s N57.282 trillion.

The NGX was under a massive sell-off yesterday, resulting in 61 equities finishing on the losers’ chart, as only seven equities ended on the gainers’ table, indicating a negative market breadth index and a weak investor sentiment.

Linkage Assurance, Caverton, Sterling Holdings, AXA Mansard, and NASCON depreciated by 10.00 per cent on Tuesday to trade at N1.17, N1.80, N6.30, N5.85, and N68.40, respectively.

However, the share price of UPDC rose by 8.11 per cent to N2.00, Geregu Power improved by 4.61 per cent to N517.80, Wema Bank gained 1.21 per cent to quote at N10.90, Ellah Lakes jumped by 0.99 per cent to N3.05, and UPDC REIT leapt by 0.81 per cent to N6.25.

As for the activity chart, it was in red during the trading day, with the trading volume, value and the number of deals going down by 5.93 per cent, 57.14 per cent, and 8.23 per cent apiece.

A total of 649.0 million shares worth N11.1 billion exchanged hands in 14,579 deals yesterday, in contrast to the 689.9 million shares worth N25.9 billion traded in 15,887 deals a day earlier.

Japaul maintained its position as the most active stock on Tuesday after it posted a turnover of 59.8 million units valued at N179.5 million. Transcorp sold 52.1 million units for N763.2 million, Access Holdings exchanged 46.8 million units valued at N1.2 billion, UBA transacted 44.6 million units worth N1.2 billion, and Oando traded 35.0 million units worth N496.7 million.