By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited contracted by 0.10 per cent on Thursday on the back of mild profit-taking, especially in the insurance and consumer goods sectors.
Analysis of the price movement table showed that Prestige Assurance finished the trading session as the worst-performing stock after its value went down by 9.80 per cent to 46 Kobo. Caverton dropped 9.38 per cent to 87 Kobo, Sunu Assurances declined by 8.57 per cent to 32 Kobo, Unilever Nigeria lost 8.29 per cent to sell for N9.95, and Multiverse moderated by 8.23 per cent to N4.24.
With a 9.09 per cent growth, UPDC REIT finished the session as the best-performing equity, closing at N3.00. Trans Nationwide Express rose by 8.82 per cent to 74 Kobo, Champion Breweries expanded by 7.81 per cent to N3.45, Japaul gained 7.69 per cent to trade at 28 Kobo, and Cutix grew by 4.88 per cent to N2.15.
At the close of transactions, there were 20 depreciating stocks and nine appreciating stocks, indicating a negative market breadth and a weak investor sentiment.
The banking and the industrial goods sectors made efforts to extend the gains of the exchange yesterday by growing by 0.05 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively, but the losses posted by the three other counters outweighed them.
The insurance space lost 1.01 per cent, the energy index fell by 0.96 per cent, and the consumer goods sector depreciated by 0.21 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 46.32 points to 44,236.70 points from 44,283.02 points, and the market capitalisation fell by N25 billion to N24.095 trillion from N24.120 trillion.
A total of 215.2 million stocks worth N1.9 billion exchanged hands in 3,389 deals on Thursday compared with the 155.4 million stocks worth N1.5 billion transacted in 3,796 deals on Wednesday, indicating a decline in the number of deals by 10.72 per cent, an increase in the trading volume by 38.45 per cent, and growth in the trading value by 24.86 per cent.
Access Holdings was the busiest equity during the session, selling 112.3 million units and was trailed by Transcorp, which sold 16.1 million units. Sterling Bank traded 12.3 million units, Fidelity Bank exchanged 9.3 million units, and Zenith Bank transacted 7.2 million units.
