By Dipo Olowookere
Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited remained bearish on Wednesday with a marginal 0.01 per cent decline.
The decline occurred as the bears are making an attempt to tighten their grip on the exchange, which is tucked on Customs Street, Marina, Lagos.
Unlike the previous session, in which the market breadth was positive, it was negative yesterday as a result of the 23 price losers and 19 price gainers recorded at the close of business.
This was due to profit-taking across most of the sectors, with the insurance space going down by 1.60 per cent, the banking sector down by 0.20 per cent and the consumer goods counter down by 0.10 per cent.
The energy space grew by 2.00 per cent at the midweek trading session, while the industrial goods counter closed flat.
It was a bad day for FTN Cocoa as its share price went down by 10.00 per cent to 36 kobo. Neimeth declined by 8.95 per cent to N1.73, International Breweries fell by 8.77 per cent to N5.20, PZ Cussons dropped 7.41 per cent to N5.00, while Cornerstone Insurance went down by 7.02 per cent to 53 kobo.
At the other end, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance witnessed a 10.00 per cent rise in its equity price to 33 kobo, followed by Portland Paints, which gained 8.33 per cent to sell for N2.60.
Royal Exchange grew by 7.14 per cent to sell for 45 kobo, ABC Transport appreciated by 6.90 per cent to 31 kobo, while Japaul gained 5.17 per cent to close at 61 kobo.
Business Post reports that on Wednesday, a total of 259.5 million shares worth N1.9 billion were traded in 3,547 deals as against the 252.6 million shares worth N1.8 billion transacted on Tuesday in 3,474 deals.
FBN Holdings was the most active stock yesterday as it traded 69.5 million units of its shares worth N514.3 million.
These transactions coincided with the appointment of Mr Gbenga Shobo as the new head of the company’s flagship subsidiary, First Bank Nigeria Limited.
At the session, Transcorp sold 36.7 million stocks valued at N33.0 million, Zenith Bank traded 16.6 million equities worth N366.4 million, Sovereign Trust Insurance exchange 12.6 million shares for N2.9 million, while United Capital traded 8.9 million stocks for N50.2 million.
When trading activities were closed for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 2.39 points to settle at 39,303.09 points in contrast to the previous 39,305.48 points.
In the same vein, the market capitalisation went down by N1 billion to close at N20.569 trillion compared with N20.570 trillion it ended on Tuesday.
Adedapo Adesanya