By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited further shed 0.15 per cent on Thursday as profit-taking persisted after the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) further jacked up the interest rate by 1.50 per cent to 26.25 per cent on Tuesday.
Customs Street was in red during the trading session as investors offloaded some blue-chip stocks to book profit, leaving the bears to tighten their grip on the bourse.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 151.14 points to 97,978.02 points from 98,129.16 points and the market capitalisation decreased by N85 billion to settle at N55.424 trillion compared with the previous day’s N55.509 trillion.
Business Post reports that investor sentiment remained bearish yesterday after the exchange finished with 17 price gainers and 28 price losers, implying a negative market breadth index.
SAHCO lost 9.80 per cent to trade at N20.70, NEM Insurance declined by 9.47 per cent to N7.65, FTN Cocoa slipped by 9.35 per cent to N1.26, Tantalizers slid by 9.26 per cent to 49 Kobo, and Japaul lost 8.42 per cent to close at N1.74.
On the flip side, C&I Leasing rose by 9.90 per cent to N3.44, Caverton improved by 7.69 per cent to N1.40, Chams grew by 7.14 per cent to N1.50, Consolidated Hallmark expanded by 6.15 per cent to N1.38, and Veritas Kapital increased by 5.36 per cent to 59 Kobo.
During the trading day, investors bought and sold 316.5 million shares worth N7.7 billion in 7,852 deals compared with the 271.7 million shares worth N5.4 billion in 7,383 deals, indicating an increase in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 16.49 per cent, 42.59 per cent, and 6.35 per cent, respectively.
The busiest stock for the session was UBA, which traded 50.3 million units valued at N984.8 million, GTCO transacted 38.5 million units worth N1.4 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 28.9 million units valued at N878.8 million, Transcorp sold 21.7 million units for N226.0 million, and Julius Berger traded 17.7 million units worth N1.5 billion.
Yesterday, the industrial goods sector was flat, and the energy index appreciated by 0.72 per cent, while the insurance, banking and consumer goods counters depreciated by 1.90 per cent, 1.42 per cent, and 0.05 per cent, respectively.