Equities market dips by 0.01% to maintain 4 days consistent profit-taking
By Kayode Tokede
The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) ended trading activities on a bearish note, thereby extending the losing streak to four consecutive trading sessions.
The performance was buoyed by investors’ profit-taking sentiments in all the major sectors except Oil & Gas stocks.
Hence, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) shed 3.19 basis points, representing a decrease of 0.01 per cent, to close at 39,201.33 basis points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value lost N1 billion to close at N20.425 trillion.
The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Honeywell Flour Mills, Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Livestock Feeds and United Capital.
On market outlook, analysts at Afrinvest Limited said, “Today, the final trading session, we anticipate positive performance as investors take advantage of bargains in the market.”
However, the market breadth closed negative, recording 21 losers as against nine gainers. Chams recorded the highest price gain of 4.76 per cent, to close at 22 kobo, per share. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with a gain 4.67 per cent to close at N7.85, while Cutix appreciated by 4.60 per cent to close at N5.00, per share.
Oando went up by 3.08 per cent to close at N4.68, while Nigerian Breweries appreciated by 1.25 per cent to close at N48.65, per share. On the other hand, Cornerstone Insurance led the losers’ chart by 7.69 per cent, to close at 48 kobo, per share. AIICO Insurance followed with a decline of 6.86 per cent to close at 95 kobo, while Learn Africa shed 5.56 per cent to close at N1.36, per share.
Livestock Feeds lost 5.45 per cent to close at N2.08, while Honeywell Flour Mills declined by 5.13 per cent to close at N3.88, per share.
The total volume traded fell by 1.0 per cent to 350.528 million shares, worth N3.347 billion, and traded in 3,523 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings (FBNH) topped the activity chart with 97.728 million shares valued at N729.641 million. Wema Bank followed with 74.856 million shares worth N58.483 million, while Access Bank traded 47.751 million shares valued at N451.171 million.
Livestock Feeds traded 12.853 million shares valued at N26.667 million, while Nigerian Breweries transacted 10.003 million shares worth N486.818 million.
