Kayode Tokede
The stock market yesterday dipped by 0.06 per cent to open trading activities for this week amid investors’ profit-taking in Nigerian Breweries Plc, 25 other stocks.
The NGX All-Share Index declined by 29.08 basis points or 0.06 per cent, to close at 45,928.27 basis points from 45,957.35 basis points it opened for trading, while the overall market capitalisation value lost N12 billion to close at N24.749 trillion from N24.761trillion it closed last week.
The stock market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Nigerian Breweries, United Capital, NEM Insurance, FBN Holdings (FBNH) and Zenith Bank.
Sector performances on the NGX yesterday were negative with the Banking Index dropping by 0.45per cent, Consumer Goods was down by 0.23 per cent, Industrial index dipped by 0.01per cent while the Oil and Gas index added 1.67 per cent.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 26 stocks lost relative to 15 gainers. LivingTrust Mortgage Bank recorded the highest price gain of 9.62 per cent to close at N1.14, per share. Northern Nigeria Flour Mills (NNFM) followed with a gain of 9.49 per cent to close at N8.65, while Academy Press rose by 9.09 per cent to close at 72 kobo, per share.
Courteville Business Solutions up by 8.70 per cent to close at 50 kobo, while Associated Bus Company appreciated by 5.88 per cent to close at 36 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Regency Alliance Insurance led the losers’ chart by 9.52 per cent to close at 38 kobo, per share. FTN Cocoa Processors followed with a decline of 7.69 per cent to close at 36 kobo, while NEM Insurance lost 5.41 per cent to close at N3.50, per share.
Sovereign Trust Insurance declined 4.17 per cent to close at 23 kobo, while Cutix shed four per cent to close at N2.40, per share.
The total volume of trades decreased by 1.06 per cent to 278.606 million units, valued at N2.887 billion, and exchanged in 4,447 deals. Transactions in the shares of Chams topped the activity chart with 40.546 million shares valued at N8.115 million. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 35.115 million shares worth N284.738 million, while Courteville Business Solutions traded 33.326 million shares valued at N16.547 million.
Sterling Bank traded 18.779 million shares valued at N30.103 million, while Access Bank transacted 17.068 million shares worth N166.413 million.
According to analysts at InvestmentOne Research: “The equities market closed southwards due to the losses printed across major sectors. Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space.
“We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”
