Profit-taking in Large-Cap Stocks Weakens Market by 0.44%

By Dipo Olowookere

Profit-taking in some large-cap stocks in Nigeria weakened the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.44 per cent on Monday.

Business Post reports that sell-off in equities like GTBank, Stanbic IBTC, Lafarge Africa, BUA Cement, MTN Nigeria and nine others contributed to the downfall of the market yesterday.

Apart from the energy sector, which improved by 0.21 per cent, every other sector closed bearish with the industrial goods index down by 0.66 per cent, banking down by 0.59 per cent, insurance sector down by 0.29 per cent and consumer goods counter down by 0.09 per cent.

At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 175.42 points to 39,306.47 points from 39,481.89 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N91 billion to N20.488 trillion from N20.579 trillion.

Yesterday, Enamelware suffered the highest loss as its share price went down by 9.80 per cent to N17.95, Africa Prudential dropped 6.92 per cent to settle at N6.05, NPF Microfinance Bank reduced by 6.42 per cent to N1.75, Wema Bank lost 5.17 per cent to trade at 55 kobo, while Axa Mansard Insurance fell by 3.30 per cent to 88 kobo.

There were 22 price gainers on Monday, with Eterna on top after its equity value rose by 9.85 per cent to quote at N7.25, followed by Royal Exchange, which grew by 9.21 per cent to sell at 83 kobo.

Capital Hotel appreciated by 9.09 per cent to N2.40, Regency Alliance Insurance gained 8.82 per cent to trade at 37 kobo, while Sterling Bank appreciated by 8.11 per cent to N1.60.

A look at the activity chart showed that a total of 357.7 million shares worth N3.6 billion were transacted in 4,394 deals as against the 219.6 million shares worth N2.9 billion exchanged in 4,107 deals at the preceding session.

Zenith Bank closed as the most active stock with the sale of 52.7 million units worth N1.3 billion and was trailed by FBN Holdings, which traded 42.5 million units valued at N307.2 million.

NEM Insurance transacted 39.5 million equities worth N88.7 million, Sovereign Trust Insurance traded 23.6 million stocks for N6.2 million, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 23.3 million shares valued at N55.8 million.