Salamatu Ejembi, Lagos
Trading of equities on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Group, NGX, ended flat on Wednesday, albeit with a bearish tilt, as the benchmark index settled at 102,106.31 points.
Investors traded with mixed sentiments as the loss in DANGOTE SUGAR REFINERY PLC (-5.62%) offset the gain in BUA FOODS PLC (+3.82%).
Likewise, selloffs in Tier-1 banking names, ZENITH BANK PLC (-1.87%), GUARANTY TRUST HOLDING COMPANY PLC (-1.75%), and UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC (-1.95%) overturned the gains in FCMB GROUP PLC (+1.06%) and STERLING FINANCIAL HOLDINGS COMPANY PLC (+0.68%).
Consequently, the Month-to-date (MTD) and year-to-date (YTD) returns remained at +0.9% and +36.6%, respectively, while the market capitalization shed ₦954.04m to close at ₦55.87trn.
Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 15.68% and the total volume traded declined by 27.5%.
Thus, a total of 341.92bm shares valued at ₦6.41bn were exchanged in 9,665 deals where TRANSNATIONAL CORPORATION PLC (-1.62%) was the most traded stock by volume at 39.90 million units, while GUARANTY TRUST HOLDING COMPANY PLC (-1.75%) led the value chart with deals worth ₦1.02 billion.
As measured by market breadth, Market sentiment closed negative with 35 declining issues outnumbering the 19 advancing ones.
AIICO INSURANCE PLC. (-9.92%) and CADBURY NIGERIA PLC (-9.50%) recorded the most significant losses of the day, while MEYER PLC (+10.00%) and TRIPPLE GEE AND COMPANY PLC (+9.84%) topped the gainers’ list.
Performance across the sectors was mixed, as the Insurance (-1.5%), Banking (-1.5%) and Industrial Goods (-0.1%) indices declined while the Oil & Gas index was unchanged. The Consumer Goods (+1.3%) index was the sole gainer for the day.
Hauwa Abu
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