BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
The local bourse All-Share index fell 0.05 percent in low-volume trading to settle at 49,421.91 points, as profit-taking resumed on Wednesday.
Furthermore, the Exchange printed a higher number of losers (12) than gainers (10) as tickers such as ACADEMY (-9.78%), NEM (-6.08%), CADBURY (-5.45%), JAIZBANK (-4.76%) and NGXGROUP (-4.38%) were among the worst performing stocks. Hence, the year-to-date gain of the index declined to 15.70 percent.
Given the bearish sentiment, the NGX Insurance index, NGX Consumer Goods index, NGX Oil/Gas index, and NGX Industrial index all fell by 1.21 percent, 0.02 percent, 0.10 percent, and 0.03 percent, respectively. Conversely, FIDELITYBK, STANBIC, UBA, and ZENITHBANK share prices increased by 5.46 percent, 1.69 percent, 1.38 percent, and 0.76 percent, respectively, lifting the NGX Banking index by 0.49 percent.
Meanwhile, trading activity was subdued, with total transactions, volume, and value falling by 10.29 percent, 64.85 percent, and 75.35 percent, respectively, to 2981 trades, 51.88 million units, and N590.01 million. ZENITHBANK was the most active stock in terms of volume and turnover, with 6.30 million shares worth N125.54 million changing hands in 296 transactions. Trading volumes on the NGX have been light, contributing to the seesaw trading sessions that we have seen, with investors only confident enough to take short-term trading positions.
