By Dipo Olowookere
The performance of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited was lukewarm on Tuesday as investors set their eyes on Christmas sales. This brought about mild profit-taking during the session and left the market flat.
It was observed that the market breadth was negative yesterday, as there were 16 price losers and 11 price gainers, indicating a weak investor sentiment.
The highest price riser, UPDC REIT, managed to gain 8.62 per cent during the session to settle at N3.15, while the stock in a distant second, Royal Exchange, appreciated by 5.95 per cent to 89 Kobo. Ardova rose by 4.19 per cent to N17.40, Vitafoam improved by 3.57 per cent to N21.75, and Custodian Investment climbed higher by 2.75 per cent to N5.60.
On the other hand, the biggest price decliner for the day was Neimeth, and it lost 9.66 per cent to trade at N1.31. SCOA Nigeria fell by 9.41 per cent to 77 Kobo, UPDC declined by 7.07 per cent to 92 Kobo, RT Briscoe went down by 6.90 per cent to 27 Kobo, and Chams retreated by 4.55 per cent to 21 Kobo.
Business Post reports that the banking and the energy sectors appreciated by 0.27 per cent and 0.22 per cent apiece yesterday, while the insurance and the consumer goods counters depreciated by 0.27 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively, with the industrial goods space closing flat.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) marginally increased by 1.22 points to 49,416.18 points from 49,414.96 points, while the market capitalisation grew by about N1 billion to N26.916 trillion from N26.915 trillion.
The activity chart was mixed on Tuesday as the trading volume increased while the trading value and the number of deals decreased.
A total of 100.1 million equities valued at N1.30 billion exchanged hands in 3,186 deals against the 76.7 million equities worth N1.33 billion transacted in 3,260 deals a day earlier, representing an improvement in the volume of trades by 34.00 per cent, a fall in the value of transactions by 2.26 per cent, and a decline in the number of deals by 2.27 per cent.
GTCO was the most active stock of the session as it sold 16.4 million units, Consolidated Hallmark Insurance traded 9.3 million units, UBA traded 7.1 million units, FTN Cocoa also sold 7.1 million units, and Access Holdings exchanged 5.3 million units.
