Equity market sheds N148bn

Trading activities on the floor of Nigerian Exchange closed southward, depreciating by N148 billion, loss on the shares of Aradel Plc, Okomu oil, Nestle Nigeria Plc,Wapco outweigh gains recorded in the shares of UACN, Deap Capital, Daar Communications, Dangote Sugar and 19 others.

Market capitalisation of listed equities on Wednesday declined by 0.25 per cent to N59.559 trillion from N59.707 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 249.40 basis points to 98291.53 points from 98540.93 points it closed on Tuesday.

As a result year to date return went down to 31.45 per cent as 23 companies each closed in green and red respectively.

A review of the investment showed that Deap Capital led gainers table with 10 per cent to close at N1.32 per share, UACN followed with a gain of 9.90 per cent to close at N21.65 per unit , Dangote Sugar gained 9.69 per cent to close at N35.10 per unit, Champion added 9.65 per cent to close at N3.75 per unit.

Daar Communications up by 9.26 per cent to close at N0.59 per share.

On the contrary, Custodian insurance topped losers chart, dropping by 8.98 per cent to close at N11.65 per unit, Okomuoil trailed with a drop of 6.86 per cent to close at N338.10 per unit, Conhall Plc fell by 6.62 per cent to close at N1.41 per unit, Aradel Plc dipped by 5.85 per cent to close at N772.40 per share, Mcnichols down by 4.93 per cent to close at N1.35 per share.

Volume of trades went down by 28.493 million, representing a drop of 9.96 per cent as investors traded 257.551 million shares valued at N8.993 billion in 7778 deals against 286.044 million shares worth N26.817 billion in 9650 deals.

Fidelity Bank led market activities with 38.208 million shares valued at N559.084 million, United Bank for Africa followed with account of 33.788 million shares cost N829.612 million, GTCO Plc traded 16.739 million shares cost N858.274 million, Champion Breweries exchanged 14.440 million shares valued at N542.272 million, Zenith Bank traded 11.593 million shares valued at N436.483 million.