Local equities shed N19bn

The local equity market on Tuesday closed southward, declining by N19 billion as losses in the shares of Aradel, JohnHolt, Thomas Way and others impacted negatively on the market.

Market capitalization of listed equities decreased by 0.03 per cent to N59.226 trillion from N59.245 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also depreciated by 31.30 basis points to 97702.56 points from 97733.86 points traded on Monday.

As result the year-to-date return went down to 30.66 per cent as 23 firms closed in red against 29 companies that took positive direction.

An analysis of the investment showed that Betaglass and Gold Breweries led gainers table with 10 per cent to close at N53.90 per unit.

Wapco followed with a gain of 9.95 per cent to close at N70.15 per share, Honey Well Flour gained 9.89 per cent to close at N9.89 per cent to close at N4.89, SUNU Assurance added 9.88 per cent to close at N4.67 per unit.

On the contrary, Sovereign Trust Insurance topped losers’ chart, dropping by 10 per cent to close at N0.72 per unit, JohnHolt trailed with a loss of 9.98 per cent to close at N8.03 per unit, EllahLakes dipped by 9.92 per cent to close at N3.18 per share, Thomas Way declined by 9.42 per cent to close at N1.73 per shares, Aradel Plc down by 8.72 per cent to close at N471.90 per unit.

Volume of transaction increased by 704.835 million, representing a surge of 156.23 per cent as investors traded 1.156 billion shares valued at N27.363 billion in 9403 deals against 451.165 million shares cost N10.150 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 9329 deals.

Transactions in the shares of FBNHoldings led market activities with 779.622 million shares valued at N18.767 billion, Mansard followed with 32.535 million shares cost N242.840 million, United Bank for Africa traded 31.101 million shares cost N670.870 million, AccessCorp traded 27.896 million shares valued at N670.870 million while EllahLakes exchanged 23.028 million shares valued at N76.498 million.