By Dipo Olowookere
The dearth of positive triggers further left the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited in the negative territory on Thursday as it depreciated by 0.27 per cent at the close of business.
Investors have refused to change their negative posture, preferring to liquidate their equities and monitor the implantation of the federal government’s fiscal policies.
The loss of confidence in the market weakened the All-Share Index (ASI) yesterday by 176.32 points to 64,448.96 points from 64,625.28 points and softened the market capitalisation by N97 billion to N35.273 trillion from N35.370 trillion.
Analysis showed that the banking and the industrial goods sectors were responsible for the decline suffered by the Nigerian stock market on Thursday, as they respectively decreased by 0.47 per cent and 0.03 per cent.
They pushed down the 0.49 per cent, 0.34 per cent, and 0.06 per cent gains posted by the respective trio of the insurance, consumer goods and energy sectors.
It was observed that a total of 320.4 million shares valued at N3.7 billion were traded in 5,176 deals during the session compared with the 291.7 million shares worth N7.4 billion traded in 6,213 deals on Wednesday.
This means that the volume of transactions went up by 9.84 per cent, the value of trades depleted by 50.00 per cent, and the number of deals declined by 16.69 per cent.
Fidelity Bank finished the trading session as the most traded stock with the sale of 80.1 million units valued at N595.5 million, Transcorp transacted 34.3 million units worth N137.2 million, UBA sold 24.4 million units for N340.0 million, Universal Insurance traded 22.4 million units valued at N5.1 million, and FBN Holdings exchanged 19.1 million units worth N353.5 million.
Business Post reports that despite the bearish outcome, the market breadth was positive after the bourse finished with 20 price gainers and 17 price losers.
Guinea Insurance was the worst-performing equity after it shed 8.57 per cent to 32 Kobo, RT Briscoe lost 8.16 per cent to end at 45 Kobo, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance dropped 7.61 per cent to 85 Kobo, Sunu Assurances deflated by 6.98 per cent to 80 Kobo, and DEAP Capital shrank by 6.67 per cent to 28 Kobo.
On the flip side, John Holt closed the session as the best-performing stock after it grew by 10.00 per cent to N1.32, CWG soared by 9.76 per cent to N3.60, Prestige Assurance increased its value by 8.33 per cent to 52 Kobo, Cutix gained 8.00 per cent to trade at N2.70, and Linkage Assurance rose by 7.69 per cent to 98 Kobo.
