Local equities close higher as market cap gains N390bn
The local equities market on Wednesday closed northward as the market appreciated by N390 billion.
Market capitalisation of listed equities increased by 0.25 per cent to N156.239 trillion from N155.849 trillion it opened for the day.
The NGX All Share Index declined by 503.69 basis points to 242366.75 points from 242870.44 points traded on Tuesday.
The gains recorded in the shares of Zenith Bank, FirstHoldco, Fidelity Bank, UBA, Stanbic IBTC, GTCO supported the positive performance in the market.
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The market breath was positive with 31 gainers against 18 decliners, bringing year to date return to 55.75 per cent.
Volume of trades went down by 158.435 million, representing 24.96 per cent as investors traded 476.340 million shares against 634.775 million shares traded the previous day.value of transactions dropped by 44.45 per cent to settle at N29.630 billion in 40992 deals.
An analysis of the investment showed that FirstHoldco led gainers table with a gain of 9.98 per cent to N79.35 per unit, Thomas way followed with a gain of 9.29 per cent to close at N2.94 per unit, Legend Internet added 8.99 per cent to close at N4.85 per share, Tripple G up by 8.96 per cent to close at N3.89 per share, Mcnichols up by 8.70 per cent to close at N5.00 per unit.
On the contrary, TransExpress topped losers chart , dropping by 9.85 per cent to close at N3.02 per unit , FTGinsurance trailed with a loss of 7.94 per cent to close at N2.55 per share, Sovereign Trust Insurance down by 7.00 per cent to close at N1.86 per unit, International Breweries fell by 6.12 per cent to close at N13.03 per share, NGX group declined by 4.38 per cent to close at N131.10 per unit.
Transactions in the shares of FirstHoldco led market activities with 78.540 million shares valued at N6.182 billion, Sterling Holding Company followed with account of 54.638 million shares worth N422.726 million , Zenith Bank traded 28.792 million shares valued at N3.132 billion, Fidelity Bank exchanged 22.778 million shares cost N470.204 million, Stanbic IBTC sold a total of 22.744 million shares cost N3.789 billion.
