Business

Bears persist at NGX as ASI dips by 0.2%

In a continuation of bearish sentiment, equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) witnessed a decline of 0.17 per cent, with the All Share Index (ASI) settling at 64,928.98 basis points by the close of Tuesday’s trading session.

Accordingly, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +0.9 per cent and +26.7 per cent, respectively.

Notable mid- and large-cap stocks like Dangote Sugar, FBN Holdings, United Bank for Africa, Access Holdings, Lafarge Africa, Guaranty Trust Holding Company and Nestle Nigeria experienced sell-offs, causing their respective share prices to adjust by 4.35 per cent, 1.91 per cent, 1.41 per cent, 1.17 per cent, 1.08 per cent, 0.53 per cent and 0.43 per cent.

Owing to the persistent bearish, investors lose N153.30 billion from their overall investment as the market capitalization settled at N35.36 trillion at the end of trading activities at the NGX on Tuesday.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 31 tickers lost relative to 18 gainers.

Eterna Oil and Sunu Assurance recorded the most significant losses of the day after their respective share price dipped by 9.9 per cent and 9.6 per cent, respectively, while Tantalizer and Ikeja Hotels topped the gainers’ list after their respective share prices appreciated by 10.0 per cent and 9.8 per cent.

Among the tracked indices, four ended in the red: NGX Banking, NGX Consumer Goods, NGX Oil/Gas, and NGX Industrial, which contracted by 0.08 per cent, 0.68 per cent, 0.40 per cent, and 0.06 per cent, respectively. Conversely, the NGX Insurance index showed a positive gain of 1.32 per cent.

Despite the overall lull, robust trading activity was evident, as total deals, volume, and value increased by 6.73 per cent, 8.27 per cent, and 10.48 per cent, respectively, with a total of 280.47 million units changed hands in 6,296 trades, totaling N4.65 billion.

Transnational Corporation stood out as the most actively traded stock, recording an exchange of 36.47 million shares valued at N147.50 million across 244 deals.

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