Selling Pressure Sinks Nigerian Equities by 0.09%

By Dipo Olowookere

Nigerian equities further depreciated by 0.09 per cent on Tuesday following persistent selling pressure in the major sectors of the market.

The consumer goods index lost 0.47 per cent during the session, the banking counter fell by 0.41 per cent, and the industrial goods index decreased by 0.17 per cent, while the insurance sector increased by 0.81 per cent, with the energy space closing flat.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited went down by 86.52 points to 99,217.60 points from 99,304.12 points, while the market capitalisation shrank by 0.44 per cent or N249 billion to N56.126 trillion from N56.375 trillion.

The market breadth index was positive yesterday despite the loss recorded by the bourse because there were 27 price gainers and 23 price losers, showing a bullish investor sentiment.

Oando was the heaviest price loser with 9.75 per cent to sell for N12.50, University Press shed 9.09 per cent to trade at N2.50, Academy Press lost 8.00 per cent to quote at N1.84, Honeywell Flour declined by 7.94 per cent to N3.13, and UPDC moderated by 7.86 per cent to N1.29.

On the flip side, Okomu Oil improved its value by 10.00 per cent to close at N291.50, John Holt rose by 9.79 per cent to N3.14, Consolidated Hallmark jumped by 9.43 per cent to N1.74, Secure Electronic Technology soared by 9.09 per cent to 60 Kobo, and Regency Alliance gained 7.14 per cent to finish at 45 Kobo.

It was a relatively quiet market yesterday as the trading volume, value and number of deals went down by 62.86 per cent, 67.88 per cent, and 14.38 per cent apiece.

This was because traders transacted 361.6 million stocks valued at N6.2 billion in 8,511 deals during the session compared with the 973.6 million stocks worth N19.3 billion traded in 9,941 deals in the previous session.

Transcorp ended the day as the busiest after selling 47.5 million shares for N581.9 million, GTCO exchanged 37.9 million equities worth N1.7 billion, Veritas Kapital traded 35.0 million shares valued at N31.4 million, FBN Holdings sold 27.4 million equities for N548.3 million, and Access Holdings transacted 27.0 million stocks for N504.4 million.