Nigerian Exchange Sheds 0.06% on Cautious Trading

By Dipo Olowookere

Cautious trading weakened the performance indices of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.06 per cent on Tuesday as investors watch the political scene ahead of this weekend’s presidential election.

It was observed that most of the sectors of the bourse closed lower during the session except the energy counter, which gained 0.28 per cent.

However, it could not lift the stock market when trading activities for the session were brought to an end by 2:30 pm, as the banking index shed 0.38 per cent, the insurance space fell by 0.22 per cent, and the consumer goods sector lost 0.16 per cent, while the industrial goods counter was relatively flat.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 35.04 points to settle at 54,189.31 points, in contrast to Monday’s 54,224.35 points, as the market capitalisation went down by N19 billion to N29.520 trillion from N29.539 trillion.

Data gathered by Business Post showed that investors offloaded their stocks during the session to book profit, causing the activity level to rise.

A total of 254.2 million equities valued at N15.6 billion in 2,950 deals compared with the 154.6 million equities worth N5.5 billion traded in 3,095 deals a day earlier.

This showed that the number of deals went down by 4.68 per cent, the volume of transactions appreciated by 64.42 per cent and the value of trades grew by 183.64 per cent.

The most traded stock for the session was Geregu Power, which transacted 125.0 million units, with GTCO trailing for selling 31.1 million units. Zenith Bank exchanged 15.0 million units, Access Holdings sold 11.1 million units, and UBA traded 7.2 million units.

The local bourse was dominated by the bears yesterday due to the selling pressure, resulting in a negative market breadth. The exchange ended the session with 15 price losers and nine price gainers, indicating a persistent weak investor sentiment.

Veritas Kapital was the worst-performing stock as it dropped 4.76 per cent to 20 Kobo, Linkage Assurance decreased by 4.44 per cent to 43 Kobo, International Breweries shrank by 4.26 per cent to N4.50, Transcorp went down by 4.03 per cent to N1.19, and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance declined by 2.99 per cent to 65 Kobo.

On the flip side, MRS Oil gained 10.00 per cent to quote at N25.30, Tripple Gee appreciated by 9.63 per cent to N2.39, Living Trust Mortgage Bank rose by 5.16 per cent to N2.65, AIICO Insurance grew by 1.69 per cent to 60 Kobo, and UPDC REIT inflated by 1.64 per cent to N3.10.