Equities market sheds N70bn

Transactions on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Tuesday closed in negative note; declining by N70 billion as bears dominate trading activities for the day.

Market capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by 0.08 per cent to N89.555 trillion from N89.626 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 114.17 basis points to 141544.83 points from 141659.00 points reported on Monday.

The negative performance recorded during the day was driven by losses in the key sectors including banking sector which declined by 0.30 per cent, Insurance 0.58 per cent, consumer goods 0.59 per cent while oil and gas gains 0.14 per cent and industrial goods close flat.

The market breath was negative with 27 decliners against 23 advancers, bringing year to date return to 37.52 per cent.

Volume of trades declined by 140.142 million, representing 25.24 per cent as investors traded 414.980 million against 555.122 million traded on Monday. Value of transactions went down by N11.14 billion to settle at N12.944 billion from N89.626 trillion in 25386 deals.

Ana analysis of the investment showed that Custodian Insurance led gainers table with 9.94 per cent to close at N44.80 per unit, Multiverse followed with a gain of 9.68 per cent to close at N13.60 per unit, Entranzact added 9.45 per cent to close at N17.95 per unit, Eunisell gained 9.45 per cent to close at N27.80 , Union Dicon up by 8.42 per cent to close at N10.30 per share.

On the contrary, AustinLaz topped losers chart, dropping 6.27 per cent to close at N2.69 per unit, Deap Capital trailed with a loss of 5.56 per cent to close at N1.70 per unit, FTNCocoa dipped by 4.48 per cent to close at N5.90 per unit, Regal Insurance down by 4.40 per cent to close at N1.74 per share, Champion Breweries fell by 4.26 per cent to close at N15.30 per unit.

Transactions in the shares of GTCO Plc led market activities with 32.890 million shares valued at N3.248 billion, NSLTech followed with 32.486 million shares worth N26.368 million, United Bank for Africa traded 26.223 million shares cost N1.244 billion, Chams Plc exchanged 21.951 million shares cost N74.887 million, Regal insurance sold a total of 18.997 million shares valued at N33.465 million.