Stock Market Bleeds by 1.96% on Sustained Bearish Sentiments

By Dipo Olowookere

It was another bearish day on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday as transactions closed 1.96 per cent lower.

Sustained bearish sentiments as a result of relatively attractive yields in the fixed income market and the interests in other forms of investments were responsible for the dwindling fortunes of the equity space.

Business Post observed that yesterday, profit-taking occurred across the key sectors of the market, leading to the 3.70 per cent decline in the industrial goods space, 3.36 per cent fall in the banking index, 1.15 per cent depreciation in the insurance counter and 0.38 per cent decline in the insurance sector. The energy counter closed flat at the midweek session.

At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 814.15 points to 40,696.01 points from 41,510.16 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N426 billion to N21.290 trillion from N21.716 trillion.

The market breadth was negative yesterday as only 13 equities appreciated in price while 37 stocks depreciated in value.

Fidson, CAP, Regency Alliance Insurance, Sovereign Trust Insurance and Sunu Assurances all lost 10 per cent each to settle at N5.40 per share, N18 per unit, 27 kobo per share, 27 kobo per unit and 81 kobo per share respectively.

At the other end, Niger Insurance was the highest price mover as its value rose by 10 per cent to close at 22 kobo per share.

Champion Breweries grew by 9.82 per cent to sell for N3.02 per unit, Wapic Insurance gained 7.41 per cent to trade at 58 kobo per share, Academy Press appreciated by 6.06 per cent to finish at 35 kobo per unit, while Guinness Nigeria gained 4.83 per cent to settle at N20.60 per share.

The level of transactions was better on Wednesday as there was 19.92 per cent rise in the trading volume, 38.74 per cent growth in the trading value and 15.07 per cent increase in the number of deals.

At the session, investors traded 366.9 million shares worth N5.5 billion in 5,718 deals. A day earlier, market participants transacted 305.9 million stocks worth N4.0 billion in 4,969 deals.

Zenith Bank was the most active stock as it sold 43.7 million units valued at N1.1 billion, with FBN Holdings selling 40.0 million units worth N289.3 million.

GTBank exchanged 36.0 million stocks for N1.2 billion, Courtville traded 35.1 million equities valued at N7.0 million, while Transcorp transacted 23.7 million shares worth N23.2 million.