By Dipo Olowookere
Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited were bearish on Thursday after the key performance indices depreciated by 0.02 per cent when the market closed at 2:30 pm.
Renewed profit-taking in GTCO, Access Holdings, Dangote Sugar and 14 others pulled down the NGX index as none of the major sectors of the bourse closed in the green territory yesterday.
The banking space lost 0.45 per cent, the insurance counter depreciated by 0.42 per cent, and the consumer goods index shed 0.04 per cent, while the energy and industrial goods sectors closed flat.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 12.03 points to close at 54,924.08 points versus Wednesday’s 54,936.11 points, and the market capitalisation of the exchange lost N6 billion to finish at N29.921 trillion, in contrast to the previous day’s N29.927 trillion.
The top price loser for the session was NCR Nigeria as its value went down by 9.96 per cent to N2.35, Linkage Assurance declined by 8.70 per cent to 42 Kobo, Axa Mansard depleted by 7.50 per cent to N1.85, Royal Exchange lost 4.17 per cent to trade at 69 Kobo, and UPDC fell by 4.00 per cent to 96 Kobo.
Conversely, Sunu Assurances was the top price gainer as it rose by 9.09 per cent to 48 Kobo, Transcorp Hotels gained 8.32 per cent to close at N6.90, Academy Press improved by 7.50 per cent to N1.29, Regency Assurance increased its value by 7.14 per cent to 30 Kobo, and ABC Transport appreciated by 5.71 per cent to 37 Kobo.
At the market yesterday, traders bought and sold 117.9 million equities valued at N1.4 billion in 2,575 deals as against the 134.2 million equities worth N1.3 billion traded in 2,479 deals in the midweek session, indicating a decline in the trading volume by 12.15 per cent, an increase in the trading value by 7.69 per cent and an improvement in the number of deals by 3.87 deals.
Transcorp was the busiest stock at the equity market on Thursday after it transacted 23.4 million units, followed by Fidelity Bank, which traded 17.0 million units. FBN Holdings exchanged 13.1 million units, Royal Exchange sold 9.2 million units, and UBA traded 9.0 million units.
