Equity market sheds N168bn

Omeiza Bilal

Transactions on the floor of Nigerian Exchange closed negative, declining by N168 billion as profit taking activities persisted in the market.

Market capitalisation of listed equities slumped by 0.28 per cent to N58.947 trillion from N59.115 trillion it closed on Tuesday.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 296.50 basis points to 104256.81 point from 104553.31 points recorded the previous day.

As a result, year to date returns stood at 39.43 per cent as NGX printed 29 gainers against 24 losers.

A review of the Investment showed that NEM Insurance and CWG led gainers table with 10 per cent each to close at N8.80 and N6.05 per unit respectively, Juli Pharmaceutical followed with a gain of 9.98 per cent to close at N6.50 per share, International General Insurance added 9.85 per cent to close at N1.45 per share, Thomas Way gained 9.55 per cent to close at N2.18 per unit.

On the contrary, NSL Tech and TIP topped losers’ chart during the day, declining by 10 per cent to close at N0.54 per cent and N2.16 per cent respectively. FBNHoldings trailed with a loss of 9.90 per cent to close at N39.60 per share, Vitafoam Nigeria Plc dipped by 9.88 per cent to close at N19.15 per unit, while Berger paint down by 9.80 per cent to close at N15.65 per share.

Volume of trades went down by 8.395 million representing drop of 2.70 per cent as investors traded 298.651 million shares valued at N6.840 billion in 8248 deals against 307.046 million shares worth N7.593 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 9548 deals.

Transactions in the shares FBNHoldings led market activities with 38.760 million shares valued at N1.560 billion, United Bank for Africa followed with account of 29.083 million shares valued at N762.772 million, Transcorps traded 26.296 million shares worth N372.055 million, Fidelity Bank exchanged 18.161 million shares cost N185.055 million while AccessCorp traded 17.967 million shares cost N413.016 million.