On Wednesday, the negative sentiment at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) continued as the All-share index dipped by 0.32 per cent to settle at 104,181.32 basis points.
The market’s downturn was driven by investors’ profit-taking activities in major stocks such as NEM Insurance, Tantalizer, Sterling Financial Holdings, Honeywell Flour Mills, First Bank of Nigeria Holdings and Access Holdings, leading to the depreciation of their respective share values by 9.60 per cent, 9.52 per cent, 9.27 per cent, 5.13 per cent, 5.02 per cent, and 4.20 per cent.
Consequently, the year-to-date return of the index dipped to 39.33 per cent.
The market capitalisation of listed equities also contracted by 0.32 per cent to N58.91 trillion, reflecting a total market loss of N190.45 billion.
This negative market outcome was evident in the number of losers and gainers on the Exchange, with 32 stocks recording losses while 21 stocks posted gains.
On the performance board, International Energy Insurance topped 32 others on the laggard’s table having depreciated in share value by 10.0 percent; while University Press led 21 others on the leader’s log, after it’s share price appreciated by 9.84 per cent.
Performance across the sub-sectors tracked indicated a mixed trend. The consumer and industrial goods indexes each posted gains of 0.16 per cent and 0.01 per cent.
The Banking and Insurance indexes suffered losses of 2.36 per cent and 2.07 percent, respectively, attributable to share price declines in Sterling Financial Holdings, Access Holdings, United Bank for Africa, AIICO Insurance, NEM Insurance and Integrated Energy Insurance.
The Oil/Gas sector remained subdued.
Trading on the NGX on Wednesday displayed a bearish trend, with notable decreases in the total deals, traded volume, and value by 18.69 per cent, 23.38 per cent, and 37.71 per cent, respectively, to 10,364 trades, 405.03 million units, and N8.91 billion.
At the conclusion of the trading session, Access Holdings took the lead as the most traded security in terms of volume with 50 million units transacted in 939 deals, while Zenith Bank led in traded value at N1.86 billion.
