Domestic equities sheds N348bn

The bearish momentum on the floor of Nigerian Exchange intensified as the market extended its losing streak into Thursday, shedding N348 billion.

The persistent downturn reflected sustained sell pressure across key sectors as investors continued to react to macroeconomic headwinds, weak foreign inflows, and cautious portfolio realignment. 

The trading session on Thursday closed deep in the red, weighed down by profit-taking in both medium and large-cap stocks as financial services witnessed selloff during the day.

This resulted in Market capitalisation of listed equities declining by 0.36 per cent to N95.316 trillion from N95.664 trillion reported on Wednesday.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated 547.32 basis points to 150026.55 points from 150573.87 points recorded the previous day.

The market breadth was negative with 15 gainers against 39 losers, bringing year to date return to 45.76 per cent.

Volume of transactions declined by 497.371 million, representing 44.53 per cent as investors traded 619.629 million shares against 1.117 billion units traded the previous day. Valued shares traded down by 0.45 per cent to N16.503 billion against N29.780 billion reported on Wednesday in 24865 deals.

An analysis of the investment showed that UPDC led gainers table with 9.83 per cent to close at N6.59 per unit, FCMB group followed with a gain of 8.00 per cent to close at N10.80 per unit, Omatek added 7.44 per cent to close at N1.30 per unit. AIICO gained 5.35 per cent to N3.74 per share, Mansard Insurance up by 5.26 per cent to close at N14.00 per unit.

On the contrary, Legend Internet topped losers’ chart, dropping by 9.93 per cent to close at N5.26 per share, Champion Breweries trailed with a loss of 9.72 per cent to close at N14.40 per unit, Tantalizer dipped by 8.12 per cent to close at N2.15 per unit, Sovereign Trust Insurance sheds 7.51 per cent to close at N3.08 per share, Linkage Assurance fell by 7.50 per cent to close at N1.85 per share.

Transactions in the shares of FCMB group led market activities with 149.993 million shares valued at N1.598 billion, Conhall Plc followed with account of 79.090 million cost N319.716 million, Zenith Bank traded 41.887 million shares valued at N2.510 billion, Sterling Bank exchanged 38.503 million shares cost N314.967 million, Access Holdings Company exchanged 32.329 million shares cost N731.376 million.