Negative sentiment: NGX capitalisation dips N11bn

Mixed trading continued on the nation’s bourse on Wednesday with the market capitalisation dropping by N11 billion on renewed profit taking.

Specifically, the market capitalisation dipped N11 billion to close at N22.565 trillion from N22.576 recorded on Tuesday.

Also, the All-Share Index which opened at 43,255.14 lost 10.12 points or 0.02 per cent to close at 43,245.02.

Consequently, the month-to-date and year-to-date returns were unchanged at 2.9 per cent and 7.4 per cent, respectively.

The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Eterna, Honeywell Flour Mills, FBN Holdings and United Capital.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that: “In the next trading session, we anticipate mild gains due to bargain hunting on fundamentally sound stocks with attractive prices.”

However, the market breadth closed positive, recording 23 gainers as against18 losers.

Honeywell Flour Mills led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 9.78 per cent to close at N3.69 per share.

Eterna followed with 9.02 per cent to close at N6.05, while Regency Alliance Insurance lost 7.69 per cent to close at 36k per share.

Cornerstone Insurance lost 7.14 per cent to close at 52k, while Wema Bank shed 3.61 per cent to close at 80k per share.

On the other hand, LivingTrust Mortgage Bank topped the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 10 per cent to close at 88k per share.

Chams Plc followed with 9.52 per cent to close at 23k, while AIICO Insurance went up by 9.26 per cent to close at 59k per share.

Ikeja Hotel rose by 8.70 per cent to close at N1.25, while Nigerian Exchange Group gained 7.84 per cent to close at N16.50 per share.

However, the total volume of trades increased by 11.57 per cent to 243.19 million shares valued at N3.75 billion acheived in 3,777 deals.

This was in contrast with 217.97 million shares worth N2.91 billion traded in 4,158 deals on Tuesday.

Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 37.41 million shares valued at N908.42 million.

FCMB Group followed with 27.44 million shares worth N88.58 million, while Honeywell Flour Mills traded 22.86 million shares valued at N87.59 million.

Sterling Bank sold 22.76 million shares worth N33.69 million, while Access Bank transacted 14.12 million shares worth N131.89 million.