Equities market maintains profit-taking, drops by N54bn in two days

By Kayode Tokede

Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Tuesday dropped by N3 billion in trading activities on the equities market , to extend the bearish sentiment to two consecutive trading days on sell-off in 15 stocks.

In summary, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) dipped by 5.34 basis  points, representing a marginal decrease of 0.01 per cent to close at 38,858.99 basis points. Similarly, the overall market capitalization value lost N3 billion to close at N20.246 trillion.

The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Africa Prudential, AXA Mansard Insurance, Zenith Bank, Access Bank and Cutix.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said “In the next trading session, we expect the bearish performance to persist on the back of weak investor sentiment.”

Furthermore, the market breadth closed negative, recording 15 losers as against 14 gainers. Skyway Aviation Handling Company recorded the highest price gain of 9.88 per cent to close at N4.45, per share. Wema Bank followed with a gain 5.13 per cent to close at 82 kobo, while Flour Mills of Nigeria went up by 1.87 per cent to close at N29.90, per share.

United Capital rose by 1.75 per cent to close at N8.70, while Jaiz Bank gained 1.72 per cent to close at 59 kobo, per share.

On the other hand, AXA Mansard Insurance led the losers’ chart by 9.70 per cent to close at N2.70, per share. Africa Prudential followed with a decline of 8.59 per cent to close at N5.85, while Regency Alliance Insurance lost 6.82 per cent to close at 41 kobo, per share.

Tripple Gee & Company lost 6.25 per cent to close at 90 kobo, while Courteville Business Solutions shed 5.71 per cent to close at 33 kobo, per share.

However, the total volume of trades rose by 277.4 per cent to 526.301 million units, valued at N3.045 billion, and exchanged in 3,535 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Honeywell Flour Mills topped the activity chart with 402.185 million shares valued at N1.528 billion. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 11.122 million shares worth N82.702 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria traded 9.472 million shares valued at N8.740 million.

Fidelity Bank traded 9.151 million shares valued at N22.398 million, while Wema Bank transacted 8.712 million shares worth N6.759 million.