Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The decision of investors to offload Cadbury Nigeria and 14 other stocks at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Friday had a negative impact on the market.
Yesterday, the exchange depreciated by 0.47 per cent despite recording an improvement in the level of activity as market participants preferred to book profit rather than do bargain hunting.
As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 187.21 points to settle at 39,483.08 points compared with the previous day’s 39,670.29 points.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation went down at the close of transactions by N98 billion to finish at N20.571 trillion in contrast to N20.669 trillion it ended on Thursday.
In terms of the performance of the five key sectors of the NGX, only the insurance space appreciated yesterday as it moved higher by 0.28 per cent.
The consumer goods sector depreciated by 0.25 per cent, the banking counter went down by 0.18 per cent, the energy space declined by 0.16 per cent, while the industrial goods sector reduced by 0.08 per cent.
On the price movement chart, FTN Cocoa sat on top of the losers’ log after its equity price went down by 6.98 per cent to 40 kobo.
University Press declined by 6.20 per cent to N1.21, Cadbury dropped 5.03 per cent to N8.50, Linkage Assurance went down by 4.76 per cent to 60 kobo, while Learn Africa reduced by 4.44 per cent to N1.29.
On the gainers’ table, Lasaco Assurance sat comfortably with a 10.00 per cent gain to sell at N1.54 and was followed by Neimeth, which grew by 9.63 per cent to N2.05.
UAC Nigeria appreciated by 9.57 per cent to N11.45, Pharma Deko went up by 9.55 per cent to N1.72, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance rose by 9.52 per cent to 46 kobo.
In terms of the activity chart, the trading volume increased by 39.01 per cent to 280.6 million units from 201.8 million units, the trading value improved by 89.48 per cent to N3.2 billion from N1.7 billion, while the number of deals rose by 22.54 per cent to 4,012 deals from 3,274 deals.
At the close of trades, Honeywell Flour Mills was the most active with 57.5 million units worth N185.8 million, followed by GTCO with 42.6 million units valued at N1.2 billion.
Jaiz Bank transacted 22.4 million equities for N13.3 million, Mutual Benefits Assurance exchanged 16.2 million stocks for N5.4 million, while Transcorp traded 14.4 million shares valued at N14.0 million.
