Equity market sheds N324bn

The domestic equity market on Wednesday returned to negative performance, declining by 324 billion as investors sustained profit taking activities.

Market capitalisation of listed equities dropped by 0.36 per cent to N89.372 trillion from N89.696 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 512.60 basis points to 141248.76 points from 141761.36 points traded on Tuesday.

Volume of trades went up by 77.872 million, representing 12.87 per cent as investors traded 682.889 million shares against 605.017 bought the previous day.value of transactions rose by 72.33 per cent to settle at N22.222 billion in 28695 deals.

The negative performance in the market was driven by losses in the shares of GTCO Plc, Guinness Nigeria Plc, Nahco, Nascon, NGX group, Unilever Nigeria Plc, Zenith, Fidelity Bank among others.

The trading for the day showed that oil and gas sector appreciated by 0.18 per cent, insurance, Consumer goods and banking sector closed negative trajectory at 0.34 per cent, 0.15 per cent, 0.75 per cent respectively while industrial sector close Flat at zero percent.

The market breath was negative with 40 decliners against 16 advancers, bringing the year-to-date return to 37.33 per cent.

An analysis of the investment showed that Deap Capital led gainers table with 4.82 per cent to close at N1.74 per unit, Legend Internet followed with a gain of 4.63 per cent to close at N5.65 per share, Honey Well Flour gained 4.17 per cent to close at N22.50 per unit, Tantalizer added 3.60 to close at N2.59 per share, AfriPrudential gained 3.13 per cent to close at N16.50 per unit.

On the contrary, RTBriscoe and Cornerstone topped loser’s chart, dropping by 10 per cent each to close at N3.06 and N6.39 per unit respectively.

ABC Transport trailed with a loss of 9.80 per cent to close at N4.51 per share, NGX group fell by 9.70 per cent to close at N53.55 per unit, Mutual Benefits down by 9.58 per cent to close at N4.06 per share.

Transactions in the shares of FCMB group led market activities with 108.485 million shares valued at N1.193 billion, Sterling Bank followed with account of 86.039 million shares worth N688.083 million, Cutix Plc traded 45.807 million shares cost N155.691 million, Access Holdings company exchanged 39.341 million shares valued at N1.075 billion while FirstHoldco traded 35.780 million shares cost N1.162 billion.