By Dipo Olowookere
The first trading day of October and the last quarter of 2024 on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited ended on a negative note on Wednesday.
The local bourse closed lower by 0.33 per cent yesterday after coming under selling pressure from profit-takers, who offloaded some of their bellwether stocks that have recorded price appreciation in the past few days.
The market was on holiday on Tuesday to celebrate the nation’s Independence Day anniversary, the 64th.
Analysis of the market data showed that the banking and the energy sectors went down by 2.01 per cent and 0.13 per cent, respectively at midweek.
However, the consumer goods space rose by 1.07 per cent, the insurance index appreciated by 0.97 per cent, and the industrial goods counter gained 0.02 per cent.
But the trio could not prevent the drowning of the stock equity on Wednesday as the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 326.40 points to 98,232.39 points from 98,558.79 points and the market capitalisation fell by N187 billion to trade at N56.448 trillion versus Monday’s closing value of N56.635 trillion.
Investor sentiment was weak yesterday after the bourse finished with 32 depreciating equities and 26 appreciating equities, implying a negative market breadth index.
Ellah Lakes lost 9.93 per cent to quote at N3.99, Caverton decreased by 9.92 per cent to sell for N2.18, ABC Transport weakened by 9.57 per cent to N1.04, Livestock Feeds slumped by 9.03 per cent to N2.72, and Consolidated Hallmark shed 7.24 per cent to N1.41.
Conversely, International Breweries gained 9.98 per cent to trade at N4.41, Meyer rose by 9.94 per cent to N8.52, Veritas Kapital expanded by 9.93 per cent to N1.66, Tripple G grew by 9.91 per cent to N4.99, and Deap Capital increased by 9.84 per cent to N1.34.
During the session, investors transacted 419.9 million shares worth N8.3 billion in 11,823 deals versus the 1.9 billion shares valued at N111.6 billion traded in 10,378 deals on Monday, representing a rise in the number of deals by 13.92 per cent and a reduction in the trading volume and value by 77.24 per cent and 92.56 per cent apiece.
UBA finished the day as the busiest stock after it exchanged 108.0 million units for N3.0 billion, Zenith Bank traded 35.2 million units worth N1.3 billion, Veritas Kapital transacted 30.6 million units valued at N49.2 million, Ellah Lakes sold 21.6 million units for N88.5 million, and Regency Alliance traded 19.1 million units valued at N15.7 million.