BEVERLY HILLS, January 19, (THEWILL) – Equities market, again, closed Tuesday January 19, on a negative note, extending the losing streak recorded Monday for the second day.The NSE-ASI depreciated by -0.07% to close at 41,051.63 basis points as against -0.23% depreciation recorded previously. Its Year-to-Date (YTD) returns now stands at +1.94%.
The All-Share Index (ASI) dip of 0.07 per cent saw the market close at 41,051.63 index points, market capitalisation at N21.475 trillion — N16.084 billion weaker than that of the previous trading session.
The drop in NSE-ASI and market capitalization signal waning profit-taking activities as companies prepare their 2020 annual reports for submission to the Nigerian Stock Exchange and bargain hunters take positions for dividend.
Investors’ bets heightened over keenly preferred stocks such as Presco, Nigerian Breweries, Flour Mills and Lafarge; however, profit-taking activities in stocks like Ardova Plc, BUA Cement Plc, UACN Plc, Access Bank acted like ‘counter-balancing’ windows.
The selling pressure on these stocks weighed on market performance as trade volume fell by 28.9 per cent.
Some 525.007 million shares estimated at N5.337 billion were traded today in 5,965 deals.
The Banking Index also aided the loss, falling by 0.73 per cent to 412.95 index points, which made it take the bottom position of the five sectoral indices.
.Year-to-date index is up by 1.94 per cent.
NEM led the gainers’ chart, appreciating by 10 per cent to close at N2.53. Prestige went up by 10 per cent to N0.55. Afromedia rose to N10, notching up 0.22 per cent in the process. Guinea Insurance added 10 per cent to end today’s trade at N0.22. Neimeth completed the top 5, climbing by 10 per cent to N0.33.
Japaul Gold was the worst performing stock, declining by 9.86 per cent to close at N1.28. Ardova shed 8.63 per cent to close at N18. Honeywell Flour fell to N1.10, losing 8.33 per cent. FTN Cocoa slumped to N0.66, recording 8.33 per cent depreciation. Chams closed at N0.28, going down by 6.67 per cent.
Living Trust was the most active stock with 387.750 million units of its shares worth N232.650 million traded in 3 deals. 42.941 million units of Transcorp shares priced at N50.240 million exchanged hands in 64 transactions.
About the Author
Sam Diala is a Bloomberg Certified Financial Journalist with over a decade of experience in reporting Business and Economy. He is Business Editor at THEWILL Newspaper, and believes that work, not wishes, creates wealth.
