Local Stock Market Records 0.05% Loss

The Nigeria Stock Exchange (NGX) Limited recorded a 0.05% loss at the close of trading yesterday as investors continue to sell off their shares.

FTN Cocoa recorded the heaviest loss after its value went down by 9.09 per cent to 30 Kobo, with Lasaco Assurance following with a decline of 8.65 per cent to 95 Kobo. Coronation Insurance fell by 7.32 per cent to 38 Kobo, Ecobank shed 5.66 per cent to trade at N10.00, while NGX Group depreciated by 4.62 per cent to N19.60.

The exchange finished the first trading session of the week with 19 price decliners, while the number of advancers was just nine led by Courteville, which improved its value by 9.09 per cent to 48 Kobo.

Honeywell Flour appreciated by 8.68 per cent to N2.63, Mutual Benefits gained 8.00 per cent to trade at 27 Kobo, NEM Insurance increased by 4.71 per cent to N4.00, while Champion Breweries grew by 2.90 per cent to N3.90.

During the session, Mutual Benefits was the busiest as it sold 18.4 million stocks valued at N5.0 million, Transcorp traded 9.2 million shares for N9.7 million, GTCO exchanged 8.6 million equities valued at N173.7 million, Sterling Bank transacted 7.9 million stocks for N11.9 million, while Access Holdings traded 7.9 million equities valued at N65.4 million.

At the close of transactions, a total of 122.7 million shares worth N1.3 million were traded in 3,915 deals compared with the 132.2 million shares worth N1.6 billion transacted in 3,045 deals at the preceding session, indicating an increase in the number of deals by 28.57 per cent and a decline in the trading volume and value by 7.18 per cent and 19.97 per cent respectively.

The consumer goods and the industrial goods sectors appreciated yesterday by 0.07 per cent and 0.02 per cent apiece, while the banking, insurance and energy counters lost 0.69 per cent, 0.11 per cent and 0.07 per cent respectively.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 25.95 points to 49,344.67 points from 49,370.62 points, while the market capitalisation fell by N14 billion to N26.615 trillion from N26.629 trillion.