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By Chinwendu Obienyi
The winning streak in Nigeria’s stock market came to a halt as profit-taking dominated trading on Tuesday. The market had seen the All Share Index (ASI) rise by 1.99 per cent on account of bargain hunting by investors which meant that the bulls would continue to retain dominance upon resumption of activities at the nation’s bourse.
However, the ASI closed 0.03 per cent weaker to close at 47,545.86 points while market capitalization fell by N7 billion to close at N25.632 trillion from an opening value of N25.639 trillion.
The loss, according to Daily Sun analysis, was as a result of profit taking in UBA, Zenith Bank and Wapco. This also drove the market’s year-to-date (YTD) down 11.31 per cent.
Further analysis of yesterday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions advancing by 76.69 per cent as a total of 365.45 million shares valued at N7.11 billion were exchanged in 5,790 deals.
Fidelity Bank was the most active stock, selling over 33.756 million units worth N13.21 billion. AccessCorp was next with the sale of 23.96 million units valued at 24.70 billion while MTNN traded over 22.15 million units valued at N4.72 billion.
Investors’ sentiment was however, high as 30 stocks recorded gains while 20 others recorded losses. Meyer topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at N1.76 per share, Guinness was next with 6.86 per cent to close at N74.80, NPF Microfinance Bank increased by 6.80 per cent to close at N2.20 and Cadbury garnered 5 per cent to close at N8.40.
