Transactions at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), reversed the gaining streak to close on a downturn, yesterday, following profit-taking by investors, causing the All-Share Index (ASI) to decline by 0.47 per cent.
At the close of trading, Wednesday, the ASI decreased by 120.11 absolute points or 0.47 per cent to close at 25,215.04 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation shed N62billion to close at N13.154trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which were; BUA Cement, UAC of Nigeria (UACN), CI Leasing, Guinness Nigeria, and Zenith Bank.
Analysts attributed the drop in indices to profit-taking caused by sustained rally witnessed on the NSE over the last couple of days, as investors leveraged the capital appreciation to recoup their investment.
Specifically, analysts at Afrinvest Limited, said: “We expect profit-taking activities to drag the performance of the equities market for the rest of the week.”
Consequently, market breadth closed the same proportion with 19 gainers and 19 losers. Berger Paints and Prestige Assurance recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each, to close at N7.70, and 77kobo, per share, respectively.
Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals followed with 9.86 per cent to close at N5.80, while Mutual Benefits Assurance and Royal Exchange rose 9.09 per cent each, to close at 24 kobo each, per share.
UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust gained 8.57 per cent to close at N3.80, and Cornerstone Insurance edged up eight per cent to close at 54 kobo, per share.
On the other hand, CI Leasing led the losers’ chart by 9.43 per cent to close at N4.80, per share. UACN followed with 9.09 per cent to close at N7.50, and Japaul Oil and Maritime Services shed eight per cent to close at 23 kobo, per share.
Red Star Express slipped 7.30 per cent to close at N3.30, while Cutix shed 5.33 per cent to close at N1.60, per share.
The total volume of trade dropped marginally by 0.8 per cent to 266.65 million units worth N3.183billion, exchanged in 3,978 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Guaranty Trust Bank topped the activity chart with 69.410 million shares valued at N1.677billion.
Mutual Benefits Assurance followed with 51.763 million shares worth N12.392million, and FBN Holdings traded 31.214 million shares at N167.672million.
Japaul Oil and Maritime Services traded 18.736 million shares valued at N4.313million, while Zenith Bank transacted 16.439 million shares worth N274.860 million.
