Profit-taking in Banking, Energy Sectors Cracks NGX Index by 0.06%

Business Post reports that the N4 per share dividend declared by Zenith Bank for the 2024 fiscal year yesterday could not trigger bargain-hunting as investor sentiment was weak.

It was observed that 22 stocks ended on the gainers’ chart and 28 stocks finished on the losers’ table, representing a negative market breadth index.

John Holt lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N7.74, Chams declined by 8.52 per cent to N2.04, Secure Electronic Technology shed 8.47 per cent to close at 54 Kobo, May and Baker slipped by 7.95 per cent to N8.10, and UPDC stumbled by 6.90 per cent to N2.70.

However, The Initiates gained 9.85 per cent to settle at N4.46, Mutual Benefits grew by 9.09 per cent to 96 Kobo, Universal Insurance climbed higher by 9.09 per cent to 60 Kobo, Royal Exchange rose by 8.99 per cent to 97 Kobo, and Learn Africa increased by 8.14 per cent to N3.32.

The insurance index was up during the session by 0.09 per cent, and the industrial goods counter marginally closed higher by 0.01 per cent, while the commodity sector was flat.

But, the banking space went down by 0.96 per cent, the energy industry depreciated by 0.35 per cent, and the consumer goods sector declined by 0.20 per cent.

As a result, the All-Share Index (ASI) contracted by 59.87 points to 105,426.12 points from 105,485.99 points, and the market capitalisation depleted by N38 billion to N66.110 trillion from N66.148 trillion.

A total of 423.6 million shares worth N9.2 billion were transacted in 11,393 deals on Thursday versus the 5.8 billion shares valued at N342.6 billion bought and sold in 10,908 deals on Wednesday, showing a rise in the number of deals by 4.45 per cent, and a fall in the trading volume and value by 92.65 per cent, and 97.32 per cent apiece.

The activity log was topped by Access Holdings with 65.0 million equities for N1.4 billion, Zenith Bank sold 41.5 million stocks for N2.0 billion, Fidelity Bank transacted 40.7 million shares worth N773.2 million, Secure Electronic Technology traded 38.4 million stocks valued at N20.8 million, and Tantalizers exchanged 31.5 million equities worth N89.9 million.