Market News
Stock market reverses gains amid profit-taking - THE GUARDIAN
After days of an upward trend, the bears seized control of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday leading to price losses suffered by some blue-chip stocks. This resulted in the market capitalisation depreciating by N65 billion.
Total capitalisation plunged by N65 billion to close at N20.978 trillion from N21.043 trillion traded the previous day.
The All-Share Index (ASI) also depreciated by 0.31 per cent or 125.81 points to close at 40095.49 points, from 40221.30 points reported on Wednesday.
Analysts attributed the drop in the indices to profit-taking by investors, saying the trend would be sustained as investors move to leverage the moderate appreciation recorded in the last few days.
Investors traded 326.042 million shares valued at N3.713 billion in 4567 deals against 469.562 million shares worth N7.080 billion in 5470 deals.
A breakdown of yesterday’s transactions showed that Chams PLC led the gainers table during the day in percentage terms, increasing by 9.09 percent to close at N0.24 kobo.
Royalex followed with a gain of eight per cent to close at N0.27 kobo. Wema Bank gained 7.69 per cent to close at N0.70 kobo. Redstarex added 5.77 per cent to close at N3.30 kobo. Prestige Insurance added 4.55 per cent to close at N0.46 kobo.
On the other hand, Lasaco Insurance topped the losers’ chart, dropping by 9.68 per cent to close at N1.12 kobo while Fidson Healthcare trailed with a loss of 8.41 per cent to close at N4.90 kobo.
Ecobank Transnational Incorporated fell by 6.31 per cent or to close at N5.20 kobo. Mutual Benefits dipped by 5.13 per cent or N0.02 kobo to close at N0.37 kobo. UACN sheds 5.03 per cent to close at N7.55 kobo.
On the activity chart, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) was the most active stock during the day, exchanging 48.438 million shares valued at N43.726 million.
Dangote Sugar Refinery followed with an account of 33.886 million shares worth N611.834 million, United Bank for Africa exchanged 27.468 million shares valued at N229.57 million.
Zenith Bank PLC sold a total of 24.565 million shares cost N637.593 million while United Capital exchanged 19.239 million shares cost N118.034 million.
