Equity market sheds N65bn

Transactions on the floor of Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Thursday continued in downard trend, declining by N65 billion.

Market capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.12 per cent to N54.982 trillion from N55.047 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 112.46 basis points to 95719.05 points from 95831.51 points recorded on Wednesday.

The poor performance of the market was driven by loss recorded in the shares of BUA Food, Eterna Plc, Stanbic Zenith Bank, Transco Hotel and among others.

A review of the trading activities during the day showed that Academy Press, SFS Reit led gainers table with 10 per cent each to close at N2.75 and N122.65 per unit respectively. Oando Plc followed with a gain of 9.99 per cent to close at N43.50 per unit, RTBriscoe increased by 9.78 per cent to close at N2.47 per share, IMG gained 9.09 per cent to close at N24.00 per share.

On the contrary, Transco Hotel topped losers’ chart, declining by 10 per cent to close at N90.00 per unit, Chams Plc trailed with a loss of 9.72 per cent to close at N1.95 per unit, Eterna Plc fell by 9.55 per cent to close at N19.90 per unit, Ikeja Hotel dipped by 9.09 per cent to close at N7.00 while Thomas Way down by 8.88 per cent to close at N1.54 per share.

Volume of trades increased by 13.062 basis points, representing 3.62 per cent as investors traded 393.620 million shares valued at N5.853 billion in 8243 deals against 360.558 million shares worth N7.252 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 8813 deals.

Trading in the shares of Universal insurance led market activities with 68.193 million shares valued at N21.140 million, Chams followed with account of 33.888 million shares cost N67.627 million, Oando Plc traded 29.846 million shares cost N1.290 billion, Transcorps exchanged 28.128 million shares valued at N316.611 million while AccessCorp traded 22.675 million shares valued at N430.547 million.