Nigerian Exchange Survives Profit-Taking Scare to Close 0.01% Higher

By Dipo Olowookere

Profit-taking in some large-cap stocks like GTCO, Aradel Holdings, Ecobank, Cadbury, and others almost put the bears in control of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday.

Customs Street survived the sell-offs scare due to gains recorded by Lafarge Africa, Dangote Sugar, Access Holdings and a few others.

When the closing gong was struck to bring trading activities to an end, the market was marginally up by 0.01 per cent, though investor sentiment remained very bullish.

According to data, the bourse finished the session with 53 advancing shares and 24 depleting stocks, representing a positive market breadth index.

The trio of McNichols, RT Briscoe, and NCR Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent each to sell for N6.93, N4.95, and N171.05 apiece, as Jaiz Bank improved its value by 9.99 per cent to N7.93, and May and Baker surged by 9.95 per cent to N43.65.

On the flip side, UPDC REIT lost 9.68 per cent to trade at N8.40, Champion Breweries declined by 9.31 per cent to N19.00, Secure Electronic Technology shrank by 6.78 per cent to N1.10, Coronation Insurance crumbled by 6.69 per cent to N3.35, and Ecobank contracted by 6.00 per cent to N47.00.

Business Post observed that only two of the six major sectors of the NGX ended in green. The industrial goods space went up by 0.09 per cent, and the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.03 per cent.

However, the insurance counter crashed by 1.01 per cent, the energy sector depreciated by 0.94 per cent, the commodity segment lost 0.42 per cent, and the banking industry fell by 0.27 per cent.

Despite these losses, the All-Share Index (ASI) firmed up by 10.78 points to 166,267.60 points from 166,256.82 points and the market capitalisation increased by N7 billion to N106.443 trillion from N106.436 trillion.

The activity chart showed that 822.7 million stocks worth N24.9 billion were traded in 43,548 deals at midweek compared with the 795.5 million stocks valued at N20.0 billion exchanged in 45,410 deals on Tuesday, implying a jump in the trading volume and value by 3.42 per cent, and 24.50 per cent, respectively, and a pullback in the number of deals by 4.10 per cent.

Zichis topped with 69.2 million units sold for N150.9 million, Secure Electronic Technology traded 54.8 million units valued at N61.9 million, Access Holdings transacted 40.1 million units worth N917.8 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 38.1 million units worth N2.7 billion, and Tantalizers sold 33.1 million units valued at N126.0 million.