Equity market sheds N133bn in Thursday trading

The local equity market on Thursday closed southward, declining by N133 billion.

Market Capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by 0.22 per cent to N56.604 trillion from N56.737 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also declined by 236.16 basis points to 100063.32 points from 100299.48 point it closed on Wednesday.

As a result, year to date return was 33.82 per cent as number of companies that recorded gain stood at 24 against 25 firms that were in red.

A review of the investment showed that Oando Plc led gainers table with 9.93 per cent to close at N15.50 per share, Conoil Plc followed with a gain of 9.52 per cent to close at N115.00, Veritas Kapital added 9.38 per cent to close at N1.05 per unit, Neimeth international Pharmaceutical up by 8.61 per cent to close at N1.64 per share, Jaiz Bank added 7.55 per cent to close at N2.28 per unit.

On the contrary, Daar Communications topped losers’ chart, dropping by 8.33 per cent to close at N0.44 per unit, UPDReit trailed with a loss of 8.26 per cent to close at N5.00, Guinea Insurance fell by 7.69 per cent to close at N0.36 per unit, UPL down by 6.67 per cent to close at N2.10 per share, MTN Nigeria declined by 6.54 per cent to close at N200.00 per unit.

Volume of transactions increased by 521.388 million, representing 152.37 per cent as investors traded 863.583 million shares valued at N12.561 billion in 7931 deals against 342.195 million shares cost N4.752 billion in 7592 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Fidelity Bank’s led market activities with 539.397 million shares valued at N5.657 billion, GTCO Plc followed with account of 59.432 million shares worth N2.796 billion, Veritas Kapital exchanged 40.424 million shares valued at N41.495 million, United Bank for Africa traded 35.978 million shares cost N839.600 million while Zenith Bank exchanged 24.015 million shares cost N882.331 million.