Activities on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Ltd., on Wednesday closed barely changed, recording a marginal drop of 0.003 per cent.

The benchmark index, All-Share Index (ASI) dropped by 1.5 point or 0.003 per cent to close at 51,802.48 points from 51,803.98 points recorded on Tuesday.

Also, the market capitalisation declined by N810.63 million to close at N27.927 trillion from N27.928 trillion posted on Tuesday.

Sell-offs in stocks of MTN Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Ecobank Transnational Incorporated (ETI) amongst others made the market still.

Analysts at Vetiva Dealing and Brokerage said, “Despite improvement in market sentiments, the banking sector experienced sell pressure with names like GTCO and UBA closing the day lower.

“We anticipate further profit taking in that space as investors may begin to take profit in recent gainers such as FBNH.”

The market breadth was positive as 17 stocks declined relative to 14 gainers.

Ikeja Hotel recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N1.21 per share.

Royal Exchange Assurance followed with a gain of 7.29 per cent to close at N1.03 per share, while NPF Microfinance Bank rose by 7.27per cent to close at N1.77 per share.

Fidelity Bank rose by 4.88 per cent to close at N3.44, while Glaxosmith gained 4.84 per cent to close at N6.50 per share.

On the other hand, UPL led the losers’ chart by 9.62 per cent to close at  N2.35 per share.

Chams and Linkage Assurance depreciated by eight per cent  and 6.90 per cent each to close at 23k and 54k per share, respectively.

Cutix followed with a decline of 6.25 per cent to close at N2.25 per share while FTNCocoa lost 5.71 per cent to close at 33k per share.

The total volume of stocks traded was 416.47 million units, valued N3.46 billion, and exchanged in 4,466 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Mutual Benefits Assurance led the volume chart with 212.51 million shares valued at N53.12 million.

GTCO followed with 42.51 million shares worth N867.54 million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 23.99 million shares valued at N179.04 million.

First Bank of Nigeria (FBNH) traded 23.16 million shares valued at N262.18 million, while Accesscorp transacted 22.53 million shares valued at N208.54 million. 

(NAN)