Domestic equity market declines 2.55%

The domestic equity market opened week in negative note after Eid-el-Fitr celebration, shedding N91 billion as bears dominated the trading for the day.

Market capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.14 per cent to N66.166 trillion from N66.257 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 144.65 basis points to 105515.99 points from 105660.64 points traded last week Friday.

The trading for the day showed that depreciation in the shares of Custodian Insurance, FirstHoldco, Nascon, UACN, SUNU Assurance among others impacted negative on the performance of the market during the day.

As a result, year to date return declined to 2.55 per cent as 25 companies closed in green against 33 decliners.

Analysis of the trading during the day showed that UPDReit led gainers table with 10 per cent to close at N6.05 per unit, Afriprudential and VFD group followed with a gain of 9.96 per cent each to close at N14.35 and N51.90 per share, respectively, Union Dicon added 9.28 per cent to close at N5.30 per unit, May and Baker gained 6.17 per cent to close at N8.60 per share.

On the contrary, UACN topped losers’ chart, dropping by 10 per cent to close at N31.95 per share, UPL trailed with a drop of 9.95 per cent to close at N3.89 per share, SUNU Assurance down by 9.92 per cent to close at N5.99 per unit, Conhall Plc dipped by 9.78 per cent to close at N3.23 per unit, Learn Africa declined by 9.64 per cent to close at N3.00 per share.

Volume of trades also declined by 109.48 million, representing 19.99 per cent as investors traded 438.094 million shares valued at N12.016 billion in 17286 deals against 547.574 million shares cost N21.617 billion in 13244 deals.

Transaction in the shares of Fidelity Bank led market activities with 41.725 million valued N783.259 million, Mutual Benefits followed with account of 35.994 million shares cost N382.157 million, Nigerian Breweries traded 35.614 million shares cost N1.221 billion, GTCO Plc sold a total of 33.046 million shares cost N2.303 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 28.635 million shares worth N1.345 billion.