By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited started off the first trading session of the week on the wrong foot as it slipped by 0.58 per cent at the close of transactions on Monday.
Profit-taking in some blue-chip shares like MTN Nigeria, Zenith Bank, GTCO and Lafarge Africa contributed to the downfall of the stock exchange yesterday.
This tripped the All Share Index (ASI) back to the 53,000-region after shedding 313.16 points as it closed at 53,772.14 points compared with the 54,085.30 points it ended last Friday.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation, which measures the total value of equities on the bourse, went down by N169 billion to settle at N28.989 trillion compared with the previous session’s N29.158 trillion.
Despite the loss, the market breadth was positive, with 17 price losers and 25 price gainers, indicating a strong investor sentiment.
The worst-performing stock was Presco as its value dropped 10.00 per cent to N162.00, University Press declined by 8.77 per cent to N2.60, FTN Cocoa depleted by 8.57 per cent to 32 kobo, May and Baker fell by 7.60 per cent to N4.01, while Wema Bank depreciated by 6.85 per cent to N3.40.
On the other hand, Trans-Nationwide Express finished the day as the best performer after its stock appreciated by 9.86 per cent to 78 kobo, NPF Microfinance Bank improved by 9.76 per cent to N1.80, UAC Nigeria chalked up 9.52 per cent to sell for N11.50, Jaiz Bank rose by 8.97 per cent to 85 kobo, while Livestock Feeds grew by 6.67 per cent to N1.60.
Business Post reports that there was an off-market deal in Union Bank on the exchange yesterday and this significantly shot the activity chart higher, with the trading volume rising by 13,146.69 per cent to 27.6 billion shares from 208.1 million shares and the trading value jumping by 3,420.76 per cent to N194.4 billion from N5.5 billion, while the number of trades reduced by 6.37 per cent to 4,586 deals from 4,898 deals.
Union Bank traded 27.3 billion stocks worth N191.4 billion, Transcorp exchanged 70.1 million shares for N85.1 million, Access Holdings transacted 21.3 million equities valued at N212.4 million, Jaiz Bank traded 16.3 million shares valued at N13.6 million, while Sterling Bank sold 10.5 million stocks worth N15.9 million.
A look at the sectorial indices showed a mixed bag as the banking, consumer goods and industrial goods sectors lost 0.26 per cent, 0.11 per cent and 0.11 per cent respectively, while the insurance and energy counters gained 0.65 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively.
