NSE Index Loses 0.19% to Reverse Gains

By Dipo Olowookere

The growth recorded on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday was quickly reversed the next day when the key performance indicators went down by 0.19 per cent.

The exchange could not maintain the gains as a result of profit-taking in the consumer goods and financial services sectors.

Business Post reports the 1.13 per cent rise and 0.01 per cent growth recorded by the energy and industrial goods counters respectively could not keep the head of the bourse above the water as the pressure from the insurance (-1.54 per cent), consumer goods (-0.52 per cent) and banking (-0.31 per cent) sank it.

When the market activities were brought to an end yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 78.96 points to 40,494.35 points from 40,573.31 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N42 billion to N21.184 trillion from N21.226 trillion.

It was observed that Cornerstone Insurance and UPDC REIT were the worst-performing stocks as they lost 10 per cent each to settle at 54 kobo per share and N5.40 per unit respectively.

CHI lost 9.52 per cent to finish at 38 kobo per share, Prestige Assurance depreciated by 8.51 per cent to close at 43 kobo per unit, while Coronation Insurance (formerly WAPIC Assurance) fell by 8.33 per cent to 55 kobo per share.

At the other end, Learn Africa claimed the top spot with a price appreciation of 9.28 per cent to sell for N1.06 per share, Ardova gained 9.06 per cent to finish at N18.05 per unit, Multiverse grew by 8.33 per cent to quote at 26 kobo per share, Wema Bank appreciated by 7.69 per cent to trade at 70 kobo per unit, while Guinness Nigeria gained 7.32 per cent to close at N22 per share.

There was an improvement in the level of participation at the exchange on Tuesday as the trading volume grew by 72.82 per cent to 356.4 million unit from 206.2 million units. The trading value rose by 166.33 per cent to N5.8 billion from N2.2 billion, while the number of deals rose by 18.20 per cent to 5,040 deals from 4,264 deals.

The most traded stock for the day was GTBank as it sold 46.2 million units worth N1.4 billion, FBN Holding exchanged 35.3 million shares for N256.9 million, Dangote Sugar traded 26.8 million stocks worth N510.5 million, Zenith Bank transacted 26.0 million equities for N652.7 million, while Transcorp sold 25.3 million shares for N25.2 million.