Kayode Tokede
The stock market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) yesterday dropped by N280billion on investors’ profit taking in Dangote Cement and 17 others.
The NGX All-Share Index declined by 520.76 basis points or 1.12 per cent, to close at 46,009.23 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value lost N280 billion to close at N24.793 trillion.
The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Dangote Cement, Ardova, NEM Insurance, May & Baker Nigeria and United Capital.
However, the market breadth closed positive, recording 26 gainers as against 18 losers. Guinness Nigeria and International Breweries recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N46.75 and N5.50 respectively, while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) followed with a gain of 9.63 per cent to close at N11.95, per share.
Prestige Assurance up by 9.52 per cent to close at 46 kobo, while Unilever Nigeria appreciated by 7.28 per cent to close at N14.00, per share. On the other hand, NEM Insurance led the losers’ chart by 8.57 per cent to close at N3.20, per share.
Dangote Cement followed with a decline of 8.53 per cent to close at N260.60, while AIICO Insurance down by five per cent to close at 76 kobo, per share.
Ardova depreciated by 4.96 per cent to close at N12.45, while Multiverse Mining and Exploration declined by 4.76 per cent to close at 20 kobo, per share.
Meanwhile, the total volume traded depreciated by 15.06 per cent to 279.441 million shares, worth N2.763 billion, and traded in 4,582 deals. Transactions in the shares of UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust topped the activity chart with 46.355 million shares valued at N181.873 million. Courteville Business Solutions followed with 36.082 million shares worth N21.321 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) traded 16.886 million shares valued at N18.247 million.
Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) traded 16.046 million shares valued at N409.660 million, while Multiverse Mining and Exploration sold 10.738 million shares worth N2.201 million.
Analysts at InvestmentOne research stated that: “The equities market closed in negative zone due to the losses printed in the Industrial and Oil and Gas sectors.“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space.“We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”