Profit-taking pushes equities to N89b loss

• Published date: 17 January 2023
• Publication title: Nigeria - The Nation

After raking N703 billion in net capital gains last week, Nigerian equities reopened yesterday with a streak of profit-taking as investors sought to lock in gains from the previous week.

Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) showed average decline of 0.32 per cent, equivalent to net capital loss of N89 billion.

The All Share Index (ASI)- the value-based common index that tracks all share prices at the Exchange, dropped by 163.66 basis points or 0.32 per cent to close at 52,348.82 points as against its opening index of 52,512.48 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities declined by N89 billion to close at N28.513 trillion compared with its opening value of N28.602 trillion.

The decline was largely due to losses recorded by large and medium capitalised stocks such as Zenith Bank, Lafarge Africa, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) and United Bank for Africa (UBA).

There were 23 losers to 20 gainers. Presco recorded the highest gain of 9.67 per cent to close at N150.80. Coronation Insurance followed with a gain of 9.52 per cent to close at 46 kobo per share. FTN Cocoa Processors went up by 7.14 per cent to close at 30 kobo while R.T Briscoe Nigeria and Associated...