PZ Cussons, Dangote Sugar, 18 Others Crash Customs Street by 0.24%

By Dipo Olowookere

A 0.24 per cent decline was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday despite a strong investor sentiment and positive market breadth index bolstered by 22 price gainers versus 20 price losers.

The crashing of Customs Street during the session was caused by profit-taking activities in the financial and consumer goods sectors, according to the trading data analysed by Business Post.

The insurance sector went down by 1.09 per cent, the banking space depreciated by 1.02 per cent, and the consumer goods counter shrank by 0.81 per cent, while the industrial goods index appreciated by 0.02 per cent, with the energy sector closing flat.

When trading activities ended at 2:30 pm yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) further lost 234.76 points to settle at 97,473.98 points compared with Monday’s 97,708.74 points, and the market capitalisation receded by N133 billion to N55.132 trillion from N55.265 trillion.

The trio of PZ Cussons, Dangote Sugar, and The Initiates were the worst-performing equities of the session after they shed 10.00 per cent each to trade at N22.50, N40.50, and N2.25 apiece, as NEM Insurance waned by 9.66 per cent to N9.35, and Caverton moderated by 9.55 per cent to N1.42.

On the flip side, Tantalizers and Learn Africa were the best-performing equities after they chalked up 10.00 per cent each to sell at 55 Kobo, and N3.63, respectively, as McNichols appreciated by 9.89 per cent to N1.00, Regency Alliance grew by 9.38 per cent to 35 Kobo, and Cutix gained 8.33 per cent to quote at N3.25.

The local stock market was dull on Tuesday as investors rebalanced their portfolios, with the trading volume, value, and the number of deals down by 30.18 per cent, 49.12 per cent, and 7.62 per cent, respectively.

A total of 306.6 million stocks valued at N5.8 billion exchanged hands in 7,951 deals yesterday compared with the 439.1 million stocks worth N11.4 billion transacted in 8,607 deals a day earlier.

Access Holdings topped the activity chart after selling 33.2 million shares for N575.6 million, GTCO transacted 32.3 million equities valued at N1.4 billion, Nigerian Breweries exchanged 27.5 million stocks worth N631.8 million, UBA traded 22.5 million shares valued at N519.5 million, and Royal Exchange transacted 19.5 million equities for N10.2 million.