By Dipo Olowookere
The bears resurfaced at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Wednesday to cause a 0.32 per cent loss at the close of trading activities.
Business Post reports that the bears reversed the previous gains at midweek as a result of profit-taking, particularly in MTN Nigeria, and 13 others.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 306.48 points to 96,203.65 points from 96,510.13 points and the market capitalisation declined by N176 billion to settle at N55.262 trillion compared with the preceding day’s N55.438 trillion.
Analysis of the NGX data indicated that the industrial goods sector was the black sheep yesterday as it closed lower by 0.01 per cent.
The insurance counter improved by 1.87 per cent, the banking index appreciated by 0.62 per cent, the energy space gained 0.53 per cent, and the consumer goods sector advanced by 0.16 per cent.
Despite the poor outcome, investor sentiment remained solid with a positive market breadth index influenced by 35 appreciating stocks and 14 depreciating stocks.
Neimeth went down by 9.09 per cent to N2.00, Tantalizers declined by 8.64 per cent to 74 Kobo, MTN Nigeria shed 7.91 per cent to trade at N184.00, Thomas Wyatt slumped by 7.06 per cent to N1.58, and Jaiz Bank tumbled by 6.25 per cent to N2.25.
On the other side of the coin, Industrial and Medical Gases gained 10.00 per cent to quote at N26.40, Chams jumped by 9.95 per cent to N2.32, Oando rose by 9.94 per cent to N63.60, Livestock Feeds appreciated by 9.91 per cent to N2.44, and Eterna expanded by 9.84 per cent to N27.90.
During the session, investors traded 446.6 million equities valued at N4.5 billion in 10,148 deals compared with the 443.2 million equities worth N5.6 billion transacted in 8,493 deals on Tuesday, representing a decline in the trading value by 19.64 per cent, and a rise in the trading volume and the number of deals by 0.77 per cent and 19.49 per cent apiece.
At the close of transactions, Universal Insurance ended the session as the most traded stock with 52.6 million units valued at N18.8 million, Japaul transacted 51.8 million units worth N145.3 million, Prestige Assurance sold 35.8 million units for N19.5 million, Tantalizers exchanged 35.1 million units for N28.2 million, and Chams transacted 28.7 million units worth N65.5 million.