By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday ended on a negative note to reverse the gains it recorded the previous session, Business Post reports.
At the market yesterday, traders embarked on profit taking on the back of the price appreciation recorded on Monday. This led to the 0.21 loss posted by the local bourse on Tuesday to expand the year-to-date loss to 13.91 percent.
Business Post observed that the stock market fell yesterday despite the growth recorded across the sectors. The banking index rose by 1.88 percent, the insurance index increased by 0.59 percent, the oil and gas index appreciated by 0.99 percent, the industrial index improved by 0.56 percent, while the consumer goods index grew by 0.22 percent.
Also, the market breadth ended positive on Tuesday with 27 price gainers and 10 price losers.
Dominating the decliners’ table was MTN Nigeria, which lost N6.10k to settle at N132.60k per share. Conoil, which followed, went down by 85 kobo to finish at N16.80k per share.
At the market yesterday, PZ Cussons lost 50 kobo to end at N5.50k per unit, NCR depreciated by 30 kobo to close at N5.50k per share, while Union Bank declined by 15 kobo to finish at N6.85k per unit.
At the other side of the table, Nestlé Nigeria emerged as the highest price gainer on Tuesday, appreciating by N7.30k to close at N1121.20k per share.
It was trailed by Dangote Cement, which rose by N1.50k to settle at N166 per unit, and Berger Paints, which improved its share value by 65 kobo to finish at N7.50k.
Furthermore, UAC Nigeria grew yesterday by 45 kobo to trade at N5.25k per unit, while Access Bank gained 40 kobo to exchange at N6.50k per share.
On the activity chart, the volume of transactions went down by 16.40 percent to 209.6 million to 250.7 million, while the value of the trades depreciated by 22.40 percent to N3.2 billion from N4.2 billion, with the number of deals executed on the floor of the NSE going down by 9.06 percent to 3,743 from 4,116 recorded on Monday.
Transcorp dominated trading yesterday with a turnover of 43.6 million units of its shares sold for N42.7 million. GTBank, which followed, traded 43.0 million equities valued at N1.1 billion.
Zenith Bank transacted 34.1 million shares worth N592 million, Ecobank exchanged 24.2 million equities for N148.6 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 6.3 million units worth N31.4 million.
An analysis of the major market gauges on Tuesday indicated that the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 57.27 points to close at 27,058.62 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N28 billion to finish at N13.186 trillion.
Adedapo Adesanya