Customs Street Cracks 0.12% Ahead of T-Bills Sales by CBN

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited came under sell-offs on Tuesday, leaving the bourse battered by 0.12 per cent at the close of transactions.

Business Post reports that Customs Street experienced a crack after it could not withstand the selling pressure from investors, who were determined to book profit during the trading day ahead of the treasury bills auctions on Wednesday (today) by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) in the primary market.

Shares in the consumer goods and banking counters took the hit yesterday, as their respective indices closed lower by 1.73 per cent and 0.50 per cent.

However, the energy space grew by 1.98 per cent, the insurance index appreciated by 0.86 per cent, and the industrial goods sector improved by 0.01 per cent.

When trading activities ended for the day, the All-Share Index (ASI) shrank by 121.89 points to 97,584.81 points from the preceding day’s 97,706.70 points and the market capitalisation went down by N70 billion to N56.076 trillion from the previous day’s N56.146 trillion.

Yesterday, the NGX finished with 26 appreciating stocks and 29 depreciating stocks, indicating a negative market breadth index and weak investor sentiment.

The heaviest price loser for the trading session was Guinness Nigeria, which lost 10.00 per cent to trade at N61.20, followed by Africa Prudential, which shed 9.86 per cent to N9.60. International Breweries depreciated by 9.07 per cent to N4.01, CWG slumped by 6.98 per cent to N6.00, and UPDC declined by 5.95 per cent to N1.58.

On the flip side, Regency Alliance Insurance topped the gainers’ chart after it rose by 10.00 per cent to 55 Kobo, PZ Cussons improved by 8.78 per cent to N19.20, Cutix jumped by 5.60 per cent to N2.64, Deap Capital expanded by 5.59 per cent to N1.51, and The Initiates leapt by 5.26 per cent to N2.00.

A total of 719.1 million shares worth N8.3 billion exchanged hands in 9,435 deals on Tuesday versus the 1.3 billion shares valued at N6.0 billion traded in 10,424 deals on Monday, representing a decline in the trading volume and the number of deals by 45.05 per cent and 9.49 per cent, respectively, and a rise in the trading value by 38.33 per cent.

Coronation Insurance finished on top of the activity chart after it transacted 402.3 million shares valued at N321.8 million, Fidelity Bank traded 49.9 million equities for N760.2 million, Access Holdings exchanged 25.4 million stocks worth N501.3 million, UBA sold 23.1 million equities valued at N648.2 million, and Veritas Kapital traded 13.9 million stocks worth N21.9 million.