Local Stock Market Sheds N17bn As Traders Book Profit

After halting the bearish trend on Tuesday to garner a 1.35% gain, the Nigerian stock exchange went back to the red zone on Wednesday as it recorded a N17bn (0.06%) loss on the back of profit-taking by investors.

The marginal decline suffered by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited occurred despite the market breadth closing positive with 22 price gainers and 15 price losers.

Learn Africa posted a 10.00 per cent fall to trade at N2.34, University Press lost 9.79 per cent to finish at N2.12, Cornerstone Insurance fell by 9.33 per cent to 68 Kobo, Unity Bank depreciated by 4.26 per cent to 45 Kobo, while Fidelity Bank dropped 3.85 per cent to quote at N3.00.

On the flip side, Lasaco Assurance rose by 10.00 per cent to 99 Kobo, UPDC improved by 9.71 per cent to N1.13, Honeywell Flour increased by 9.69 per cent to N2.49, Chams jumped by 8.70 per cent to 25 Kobo, while Japaul went up by 7.41 per cent to 29 Kobo.

From an analysis of the sectorial performance, the consumer goods and energy sectors gained 0.39 per cent and 0.28 per cent respectively, while the insurance space closed flat, with the industrial goods and banking indices losing 0.45 per cent and 0.32 per cent apiece.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 31.07 points to 50,594.97 points from 50,626.04 points, while the market capitalisation shed N17 billion to settle at N27.284 trillion in contrast to the previous day’s N27.301 trillion.

The market was relatively quiet at the midweek session, with investors preferring to play safe. A total of 121.2 million stocks worth N4.2 billion exchanged hands in 4,369 deals compared with the 129.2 million stocks worth N2.9 billion transacted a day earlier in 4,706 deals, representing an increase in the trading value by 45.69 per cent and a decline in the trading volume and number of deals by 6.20 per cent and 7.16 per cent respectively.

MTN Nigeria was the busiest equity at the market on Wednesday and this came from cross-deals, selling 10.4 million units valued at N2.2 billion. FBN Holdings transacted 9.5 million stocks worth N104.2 million, Zenith Bank traded 8.4 million shares for N178.9 million, UBA exchanged 6.8 million equities for N48.1 million, while Access Holdings sold 6.6 shares for N59.0 million.