Kehinde Akinseinde-Jayeoba
Equities trading at the Nigerian Exchange Limited was bearish on Tuesday to reverse the previous day’s yesterday’s gains as the profit-taking activities in some banking stocks caused a 0.1 per cent decline in the benchmark index.
Consequently, the NGX ASI settled at 54,189.31 points, with the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderating to +1.8 per cent and +5.7 per cent, respectively.
Specifically, losses in Guaranty Trust Holding Company, FBN Holdings and Access Corporation were the major drivers of the market’s overall performance as the banking stocks dipped by 0.40 per cent, 0.43 per cent and 1.63 per cent, respectively.
Investors, therefore, lose N19.09 billion from overall investment as the market capitalization closed lower at N29.52 trillion.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 15 tickers lost relative to 10 gainers.
On the performance board, Veritas Capital and Linkage Assurance topped the losers’ list after their respective share prices dipped by 4.8 per cent and 4.4 per cent, while MRS and Tripple Gee recorded the most significant gains of the day having appreciated in share values respectively by 10.0 per cent and 9.6 per cent.
Sectorial performance was negative as three of the five indices tracked closed in red; the NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, and NGX Consumer Goods indices fell by 0.38 per cent, 0.22 per cent, and 0.16 per cent, respectively. On the flip side, the NGX Oil/Gas Index rose by 0.28 per cent, while the NGX Industrial Index stayed unchanged from the previous day.
In the broader market, the NGX Premium and NGX-30 indices decreased marginally by two and seven basis points, respectively.
Analysis of market activities on Tuesday showed that trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 182.93 per cent. A total of 254.17 million shares valued at N15.58 billion were exchanged in 2,950 deals.
Geregu led the volume and value charts with 125.01 million units traded in deals worth N12.50 billion.
READ ALSO FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
