Business

Equities market bows to profit-taking activities as investors lose N430.1bn

At the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, the equities market paused its upward trend following profit-taking activities on some bellwethers.

Consequently, the All-Share Index declined by 1.3 per cent after its two-day winning streak to settle at 59,195.21 basis points.

Basically, selloffs in telco heavyweight, MTN Nigeria Communication, as well as Zenith Bank and Guaranty Trust Holding Company, underpinned the market’s weak performance having depreciated in share value by 3.83 per cent, 5.18 per cent and 5.49 per cent, respectively.

Equities investors, therefore, lost N430.10 billion as the market capitalisation settled at N32.23 trillion.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 39 tickers lost relative to 36 gainers. On the performance board, Sunu Assurance and Cornerstone Insurance topped the losers’ list as the share prices of these companies depreciated by 10.0 per cent and 9.7 per cent, respectively; while Transcorp Hotel and MRS Oil recorded the highest gains of the day after their share value appreciated by 10.0 per cent, respectively.

Performance across sub-indices tracked was largely negative except for the NGX Oil/Gas index, which rose by 12.12 per cent. The NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, NGX Consumer Goods, and NGX Industrial indices all fell by 4.16 per cent, 0.67 per cent, 0.44 per cent, and 0.21 per cent, respectively.

Activities at the local bourse on Thursday was tepid as analysis of market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 27.14 per cent.

A total of 1.17 billion units of shares valued at N15.36 billion were exchanged in 12,611 deals. United Bank for Africa led the volume chart with 192.83 million units traded, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company led the value chart in deals worth N3.33 billion.

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