Equities market shed N457bn
The Nigerian equities market on Thursday returned to bearish run, declining by N457 billion as bears dominated the trading activities during the day.
Market capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.43 per cent to N106.323 trillion from N106.780 trillion reported on Wednesday.
The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 714. 66 basis points to 166057.29 points from 166771.95 points traded the previous day.
The poor performance recorded during the trading was driven by losses reported as result of profit taking in major stocks especially in mild and heavyweight stocks like Eunisell Plc, MTN Nigeria, Aradel Plc, Eterna Plc, GTCO Plc, Access Holdings Company, UBA, among others which outpaced gainers
The market breath was negative with 41 decliners against 36 advancers, bringing year to date return to 6.71 per cent
A review of trading showed that Nestle Nigeria Plc led gainers table with 10 per cent to close at N2153.80 per unit, NCR followed with a gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N116.90 per share, Jaiz Bank added 9.92 per cent to close at N8.20 per unit, Morrison gained 9.90 per cent to close at N5.66 per share while Mecure up by 9.84 per cent to close at N97.70 per unit.
On the contrary Mcnichols topped losers’ chart with 9.99 per cent to close at N6.58 per share, Caverton Business Solutions trailed with a loss of 9.47 per cent to close at N7.65 per share, Ikeja Hotel down by 9.43 per cent to close at N35.05 per unit, FTNCocoa declined by 9.38 per cent to close at N7.05 per unit, Neimeth international pharmaceutical sheds 8.91 per cent to close at N9.20 per share.
Volume of trades up by 27.202 million, representing 35.70 per cent as investors traded 1.034 billion shares against 761.940 million units of shares recorded the previous day. Value of transaction went up by 5.83 per cent to settle at N31.590 billion in 51227 deals.
Transactions in the shares of Sovereign Trust Insurance led market activities with 245.182 million shares valued at N798.450 million, Access Holdings company followed with 78.410 million shares valued at N1.800 billion, Zenith Bank traded 72.434 million shares worth N5.028 billion, Jaiz Bank exchanged 53.729 million shares cost N433.867 million, Lasaco Insurance traded 53.408 million shares worth N135.073 million.
