A marginal gain of 0.12 per cent was recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited on Tuesday as investors slowed their appetite for stocks as they recalibrated their portfolios for a mix of different equities and other asset classes like bonds, treasury bills and others.
However, the demand for shares in the insurance sector continued as the index grew by 9.12 per cent and was followed by the industrial goods space, which closed higher by 0.86 per cent.
But, the consumer goods industry depreciated by 0.47 per cent, the banking space lost 0.22 per cent, and the energy counter declined by 0.19 per cent.
The losses recorded by these three sectors could not pull down Customs Street yesterday, as the All-Share Index (ASI) gained 175.12 points to quote at 146,055.89 points compared with Monday’s 145,880.77 points and the market capitalisation added N111 billion to finish at N92,405 trillion versus the preceding session’s N92.294 trillion.
ABC Transport, Prestige Assurance, The Initiates, Coronation Insurance, and Champion Breweries chalked up 10.00 per cent each during the trading day to end at N4.95, N2.20, N14.52, N4.07, and N17.38, respectively.
However, Juli lost 10.00 per cent to sell for N9.00, Unilever Nigeria declined by 9.97 per cent to N71.30, Custodian Investment crashed by 9.58 per cent to N37.90, Academy Press slipped by 7.78 per cent to N8.30, and May and Baker gave up 7.69 per cent to trade at N18.00.
Business Post reports that the market breadth index was positive as there were 50 price gainers and 29 price losers, indicating a strong investor sentiment.
The activity chart was led by Lasaco Assurance with 107.2 million shares sold for N439.2 million, Japaul traded 106.9 million equities valued at N302.7 million, Sterling Holdings exchanged 97.8 million stocks worth N784.5 million, AIICO Insurance transacted 65.0 million shares for N273.4 million, and Access Holdings traded 61.1 million equities worth N1.7 billion.
At the close of business, investors bought and sold 1.3 billion stocks valued at N24.3 billion in 31,155 deals versus the 2.1 billion stocks worth N19.4 billion exchanged in 40,435 deals a day earlier, implying a decline trading volume and the number of deals by 38.10 per cent and 22.95 per cent, respective, and a rise in the trading value by 25.26 per cent.