By Dipo Olowookere
Profit-taking across key sectors further deepened the woes of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited by 0.20 per cent on Wednesday.
Data showed that the insurance counter depreciated by 0.90 per cent, the banking space weakened by 0.30 per cent, the consumer goods and energy sectors plunged by 0.17 per cent each, and the industrial goods index crumbled by 0.02 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) dropped 190.41 points to 97,199.60 points from 97,390.01 points, and the market capitalisation decreased by N108 billion to settle at N55.188 trillion compared with the previous day’s N55.296 trillion.
Oando suffered the heaviest loss during the session, 9.95 per cent, closing at N36.20, Cutix shed 9.92 per cent to trade at N5.36, Academy Press fell by 8.70 per cent to N2.73, Japaul waned by 7.89 per cent to N2.10, and Red Star Express declined by 6.98 per cent to N4.00.
On the flip side, Guinea Insurance gained 10.00 per cent to finish at 44 Kobo, SFS REIT grew by 9.96 per cent to N111.50, RT Briscoe improved by 9.87 per cent to N1.67, Honeywell Flour also appreciated by 9.87 per cent to N4.12, and Secure Electronic Technology advanced by 7.14 per cent to 45 Kobo.
At the close of transactions, a total of 22 stocks ended on the gainers’ chart and 25 stocks finished on the losers’ table, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.
Veritas Kapitas recorded the highest sales by volume with 38.4 million units worth N48.6 million, GTCO transacted 36.3 million units valued at N1.7 billion, Universal Insurance traded 23.2 million units worth N7.0 million, Oando sold 22.1 million units valued at N805.1 million, and FBN Holdings traded 20.3 million units worth N454.9 million.
When trading activities ended for the midweek session, a total of 315.3 million equities valued at N5.5 billion exchanged hands in 8,365 deals versus the 599.3 million equities worth N13.9 billion traded in 11,237 deals a day earlier, representing a decline in the trading volume, value, and number of deals by 47.39 per cent, 60.43 per cent and 25.56 per cent, respectively.