Bearish sentiments persist on NGX as indices drops further by N35bn
By Philemon Adedeji
At t he Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), yesterday bearish sentiments which persisted caused by sell pressures in Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) (-3.08 per cent), WAPCO Insurance (-1.92 per cent) and Access Corporation (-0.55 per cent) were the primary drivers of the drop on the overall market’s performance, as market capitalisation dropped further by N36 billion.
The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated further by 65.47 basis points representing 0.12 per cent to close at 55,722.90 absolute points from 55,788.37 absolute points it closed trade on the previous trading day
Consequently, the year-to-date (YTD) return dipped to 8.73 per cent while the market capitalisation shed N36 billion to close at N30.36 trillion.
The price depreciation is due to downturn performance in medium and large capitalised stocks which are;
Analysis of the day’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 10.47 per cent.
At the close of trade on Tuesday, the trade volume increased further by 11.3 per cent to 199.27 million shares worth N2.81 billion were exchanged in 3,898 deals.
Sterling Bank led the volume chart with 31.09 million units traded in deals, while AIRTEL AFRICA led the value chart with N678.00 million.
As measured by market breadth the market sentiments closed negative as 9 stocks constituted the gainers chart, while 17 stocks constituted the losers chart.
On the leaders chart, Enamelware led as the highest price gainer which appreciated by 9.57 per cent to close at N17.75 per share, FTNCOCOA processor which followed grew significantly by 7.69 per cent increased to close at N0.28 per share, while Sterling Bank which recorded as the last third gainer rose by 3.42 per cent to close at N1.51 per share.
UACN went up by 3.26 per cent to close at N9.50 per share, while NGXGROUP gained 2.69 per cent increased to close at N26.70 per share.
However, on the decliners logs Chams Plc which emerged as the highest price loser depreciated by 8.00 per cent to close at N0.23 per share, closely followed by Prestige Assurance which lost 7.32 per cent to close at N0.38 per share, while Linkages Assurance which recorded as the last third loser went down by 6.82 per cent to close at N0.41 per share.
UPDC which recorded as the last fourth loser shed 6.80 per cent to close at N0.96 per share, while Wema Bank which recorded as the last fifth loser dipped by 6.05 per cent to close at N4.04 per share.
Transaction in the shares of Sterling Bank topped the activities chart with 31.092 million shares worth N46.912 million, followed by Neimeth Pharmaceutical Industries which exchanged 20.177 million shares valued at N31.676 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 16.510 million shares worth N412.519 million.
Chams Plc traded 16.112 million shares worth N3.763 million, while United Capital transacted 12.760 million shares valued at N1.858 billion.
