By Dipo Olowookere
The winning streaks witnessed in the past seven consecutive trading sessions on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited came to an end on the eighth day.
On Tuesday, the local market depreciated by 0.03 per cent and the main cause of this was the banking sector as investors booked profit, especially in the tier-one lenders.
At the close of transactions, the banking index went down by 0.60 per cent, while every other sector closed in green with insurance rising by 0.96 per cent, energy closing higher by 0.19 per cent, consumer goods up by 0.03 per cent and the industrial goods counter up by 0.01 per cent.
Business Post reports that the loss in the banking space softened the All-Share Index (ASI) yesterday by 13.04 points to 39,305.48 points from 39,318.52 points.
It also weakened the market capitalisation of the exchange by N7 billion as it closed at N20.570 trillion compared with N20.577 trillion it ended on Monday.
During the session, a total of 252.6 million shares worth N1.8 billion exchanged hands in 3,474 deals compared with the 329.7 million shares worth N2.1 billion transacted the previous day in 4,308 deals.
As it turned out, Access Bank was the most active stock with the sale of 57.2 million units valued at N410.1 million, while Transcorp trailed with the sale of 30.8 million units worth N27.5 million.
Fidelity Bank sold 29.4 million shares valued at N66.8 million, GTBank transacted 15.9 million stocks worth N496.4 million, while Zenith Bank exchanged 14.8 million equities for N328.0 million.
On the price movement chart, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance topped the losers’ table after it suffered a decline of 9.09 per cent to sell at 30 kobo.
University Press went down by 8.59 per cent to N1.17, Chams lost 4.55 per cent to trade at 21 kobo, Honeywell Flour depreciated by 4.44 per cent to N1.29, while Sterling Bank reduced by 4.38 per cent to N1.53.
On the gainers’ log, Prestige Assurance claimed the top spot after its share price rose by 9.52 per cent to settle at 46 kobo and was followed by Wema Bank, which gained 8.77 per cent to sell for 62 kobo.
Royal Exchange appreciated by 7.69 per cent to trade at 42 kobo, Champion Breweries gained 7.46 per cent to quote at N2.16, while Regency Alliance Insurance appreciated by 7.41 per cent to 29 kobo.
Despite the poor outcome recorded at the exchange yesterday, the market breadth, which measures investor sentiment, was positive as there were 23 price gainers and 16 price losers.
It is expected that this sentiment will lift the market back to the positive territory at the midweek trading session.
