UMORU ABDUL KADIR
Profit-taking activities in Blue Chips Stocks Wednesday with the bears’ tight grip, pushing the market capitalisation down to N14 trillion benchmark.
At the end of Wednesday’s trading, the market capitalisation which opened at N15.133 trillion dipped N138 billion or 0.92 per cent to close at N14.995 trillion, the All-Share Index (ASI) also declined by 267.73 points, or 0.92 per cent to close at 29,110.90 in contrast to 29,378.63 recorded the previous day.
Wednesday’s dip was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks of MTN Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank, Unilever, UACN and BOC Gases.
Consequently, Investors’ sentiment as measured by the market breadth closed negative, as Flour Mills Nigeria led 10 gainers against 18 worst-performing stocks on the day.
MTN Nigeria topped the losers’ chart on Wednesday when it shed 500 kobo to close trading at NN120 per share, followed by Guaranty Trust Bank which dropped 90 kobo to close at N30.1 per share. Unilever was also among the losers today when its share price value depreciated by 80 kobo to close at NN15 per share.
While UACN Plc dipped 55 kobo to finish at N10 per share, BOC Gas recorded a 45 kobo loss to close at N4.5 per share, among others.
On top of the gainers’ table was Flour Mills Nigeria Plc with 120 kobo gain to close at N22.35 per share. It was trailed by Nigeria Breweries which appreciated by 100 kobo to settle at N55 per share. Julius Berger, which opened trading today following its impressive fourth results with N22.15, saw its share price add 10 kobo to close at N22.25 per share.
While Union Bank of Nigeria after selling its United Kingdom (UK) subsidiary gained 10 kobo to close trading at N6 per share, Oando Plc also inched up 10 kobo to round off the top five gainers’ chart by equity gain value at NN3.74 per share.
A breakdown of the total transactions on the day, shows that Zenith Bank emerged the most sought after shares when it sold 46.57 million shares valued at N980.7 million in 414 deals. It was followed by Unilever Nigeria with 25.01 million shares worth N375.3 million traded in 107 deals. Guaranty Trust Bank exchanged 24.3 million shares estimated at N740.2 million in 249 deals.
While First City Monument Bank Plc transacted 21.1 million shares worth N41.1 million across 61 deals, United Bank for Africa accounted for 12.4 million shares valued at N101.99 million achieved in 238 deals.
In all, the total of traded stocks on Wednesday fell from 250.9 million shares worth N4.8 billion across 4,561 deals yesterday to N242.8 million units of shares estimated at N4.6 billion achieved in 3,556 deals toady.
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