Domestic equities sheds N358bn

The domestic equity market on Thursday extended its bearish run, declining by N358 billion as profit taking activities in major stocks impacted negatively on the market.

Market capitalization of listed equities depreciated by 0.39 per cent to N91.926 trillion from N92.284 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also dropped by 564.79 basis points to 145300.01 points from 145864.80 points recorded on Wednesday.

The downturn in the market was driven primarily by share prices depreciation in key stocks including Wema Bank, C& I Leasing and 48 other companies.

As a result of the session’s losses, year to date return for the market weakened to 41.17 per cent.

The overall market breath was also negative with 50 decliners against 22 gainers.

Volume of trades up by 1.114 billion, representing 83.07 per cent to settle at 2.455 billion against 1.341 billion in the previous day, the value of transactions rose by 9.90 per cent to N22.217 billion from N20.215 billion in 30749 deals.

An analysis of the investment showed that Juli Pharmaceutical led gainers’ table with 10 per cent gain to close at N9.90 per unit, AustinLaz followed with 9.91 per cent to close at N2.33 per share, NCR added 9.43 per cent to close at N8.70 per unit, Thomas Way gained 8.19 per cent to close at N3.70 per unit while Chams Plc grew by 8.06 per cent to close at N2.95 per share.

On the contrary, Wema Bank, C& I Leasing and Lasaco Insurance topped losers’ chart, dropping 10 per cent each to close at N20.70, N7.20 and N4.50 per unit respectively. Sovereign Trust Insurance and UPDC also declined by 10 per cent to close respectively at N3.24 and 7.20 per share.

Trading in the shares of 390.399 million shares valued at N577.438 million, AIICO Insurance followed with account of 236.570 million shares cost N1.108 billion, Linkage Assurance traded 214.265 million shares valued at N589.186 million, Mutual Benefits traded 157.531 million shares cost N638.659 million while Regal Insurance exchanged 109.853 million shares valued at N191.028 million.