Equity market sheds N89bn

The domestic equity market Wednesday returned to bearish run, declining by N89 billion following self-off in the banking stocks.

Market capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by 0.16 per cent to N55.508 trillion from N55.597 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also declined by 157.33 basis points to 98128.00 points from 98285.33 points traded on Tuesday.

As result year to date return declined to 31.23 per cent as total companies closed in green stood at 15 against 22 decliners.

A review of the investment during the day showed that Tantalizer led gainers table with 8.00 per cent to close at N0.54 per unit, Wapic Insurance followed with a gain of 7.81 per cent to close at N0.69 per unit, Omatek added 7.69 per cent to close at N0.70 per unit, Julius Berger up by 7.19 per cent to close at N85.00 while Wapco up by 4.48 per cent to close at N38.00.

On the contrary, TIP topped losers’ chart, dropping by 10 per cent to close at N1.80 per unit, Cornerstone Insurance trailed by 9.52 per cent to close at N1.90 per share. Deap Capital fell by 9.09 per cent to close at N0.40 per unit, Caverton Business Solutions down by 8.45 per cent to close at N1.30 per share, Royal Exchange declined by 8.33 per cent to close at N0.55 per unit.

Volume of trades rose by 48.809 million, representing 21.89 per cent as investors traded 271.708 million shares valued at N5.434 in 7383 deals against 222.899 million shares worth N5.148 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 7228 deals.

Trading activities in the shares of AccessCorp led market activities with 35.576 million shares valued at N607.587 million, Zenith Bank followed with 35.357 million shares worth N1.109 billion, GTCO Plc traded 35.008 million shares cost N1.348 billion, United Bank for Africa exchanged 31.279 million shares valued at N641.165 million while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria traded a total of 25.433 million shares cost N285.383 million.