Equity market sheds N93bn

Omeiza Bilal

The nation’s equity market on Tuesday closed lower, shedding N93 billion.

The trading result showed that losses recorded in the shares of MTN Nigeria, Oando, ETI, Nascon, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria and others impacted negatively on the performance of the market.

Specifically, market capitalisation of listed equities decreased by 0.16 per cent to N56.359 trillion from N56.452 trillion it closed on Monday.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 163.20 basis points to 99630.51 points from 99793.71 points reported the previous day.

The year to date return stood at 33.24 per cent as 22 companies recorded positive growth while 19 firms took down trend.

An analysis of the investment showed that Total Plc led gainers table with 9.98 per cent to close at N388.90 per share, Presco Plc followed with a gain of 9.97 per cent to close at N323.20 per unit, UPDC added 9.92 per cent to close at N1.33 per unit, FTNCocoa added 9.65 per cent to close at N1.25 per unit, Chams Plc increased by 9.45 per cent to close at N1.85 per unit.

On the contrary, Nascon topped losers chart dropping by 9.91 per cent to N36.80 per unit, Thomas Way trailed with a drop of 9.66 per cent to close at N1.59 per share, May and Baker fell by 7.13 per cent to close at N5.60 per share, C & I Leasing 6.67 per cent to close at N2.80 per unit, Conhall Plc dipped by 4.17 per cent to close at N1.38 per unit.

Volume of trades declined by 114.575 million, representing 11.89 per cent as investors bought 848.965 million shares worth N16.551 billion in 8064 deals against 963.540 million shares valued at N13.497 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 8657 deals.

Trading in the shares of Fidelity Bank led market activities with 293.180 million shares valued at N2.927 billion, Nigerian Breweries followed with account of 101.583 million shares cost N2.905 billion, Zenith Bank traded 74.277 million shares worth N2.565 billion Ecobank Transnational Incorporated exchanged 62.456 million shares cost N1.478 billion while AccessCorp sold a total of 51.900 million shares cost N1.004 billion.