Stock market sustains sliding profile as index slumps further by 0.33%

Amid profit taking ahead of the Easter holiday, trading on the equities sector of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) sustained sliding profile yesterday, as more blue-chip stocks depreciated in price. This made the All-Share Index (ASI) to slump further by 0.33 per cent.

Indeed, yesterday, the ASI dropped by 128.39 absolute points, representing a drop of 0.33 per cent to close at 38,916.74 points. The market capitalisation lost N68 billion to close at N20.361 trillion.

The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Lafarge Africa, Zenith Bank, Stanbic IBTC, Guaranty Trust Bank and NEM Insurance.

On the price movement chart, 27 stocks appreciated in price while 13 constituted the losers chart.

Royal Exchange and UAC of Nigeria (UACN) recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at 33 kobo and N9.90 respectively, while Japaul Gold and Ventures followed with a gain 9.76 per cent to close at 45 kobo.

Cutix rose by 9.31 per cent to close at N2.23, while Linkage Assurance gained 9.09 per cent to close at 72 kobo.

On the other hand, FTN Cocoa Processors led the losers’ chart by 8.70 per cent to close at 42 kobo per share. NEM Insurance followed with a decline of 7.39 per cent to close at N2.13, while Unity Bank shed 6.67 per cent to close at 70 kobo.

Regency Alliance Insurance lost 3.33 per cent to close at 29 kobo, while Livestock Feeds shed 2.60 per cent to close at N1.87 kobo.

The total volume of trades dipped by 2.54 per cent to 239.421 million units, valued at N2.316 billion, and exchanged in 4,450 deals.

Transactions in the shares of UAC topped the activity chart with 37.375 million shares valued at N370.010 million. Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) followed with 25.915 million shares worth N20.877 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 12.6 million shares valued at N31.450 million.

Flour Mills of Nigeria traded 10.356 million shares valued at N300.401 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank transacted 9.654 million shares worth N289.608 million.