Bears rule as equity market sheds N267bn
Transactions on the floor of Nigerian Exchange on Thursday returned to bearish run, declining by N267 billion as loss in the shares of MTN Nigeria, Okomuoil, Fidelity Bank, Guinness Nigeria wipe out gains recorded in the shares of FTNCocoa, FBNHoldings, RTBriscoe, Deap Capital during the day.
Market capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.47 per cent to N56.614 trillion from N56.881 trillion reported the previous day.
The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 463.86 basis points to 98523.56 points from 98987.42 points it closed on Wednesday.
As a result of the poor performance of the market, year to date return went down to 31.76 per cent as 26 companies closed in red while 29 firms closed on a positive note.
An analysis of the investment showed that FTNCocoa led gainers table, growing by 9.82 per cent to close at N1.79 per unit, EllahLakes followed with a gain of 9.80 per cent to close at N4.48 per unit, Deap Capital gained 9.78 per cent to close at N1.01 per share, Regal Insurance increased by 8.62 per cent to close at N0.63 per unit, RTBriscoe up by 8.11 per cent to close at N3.20 per share.
On the contrary, Caverton Business Solutions topped losers chart, dropping by 9.73 per cent to close at N2.97 per unit, Cadbury Nigeria Plc trailed with a loss of 9.39 per cent to close at N17.85 per share, ABC Transport down by 8.73 per cent to close at N1.15 per unit, Mcnichols fell by 7.89 per cent to close at N1.75 per share while Okomu oil shed 7.63 per cent to close at N363.00 per unit.
Volume of trades declined by 258.946 million , representing 42.92 per cent as investors traded 344.355 million shares valued at N6.609 billion in 9005 deals against 603.301 million shares costing N12.581 billion exchanged hands the previous day at 9723 deals.
United Bank for Africa led transactions during the day, exchanging 29.182 million shares valued at N756.091 million, AccessCorp followed with account of 26.988 million shares worth N526.116 million, HoneyWell Flour traded 25.500 million shares cost N122.980 million , Sterling Bank sold a total of 25.299 million shares cost N123.986 million, Zenith Bank traded 14.809 million shares cost N559.351 million.
