Local equities shed N3.638trn

The domestic equities market on Wednesday closed southward, depreciating by N3.638 trillion, following loses recorded in the heavyweight stocks which impacted negatively on the market activities.

Market capitalisation of listed equities depreciated by 2.35 per cent to N150.846 trillion from N154.484 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also went down by 5668.65 basis points to 235074.54 points from 240743.19 points recorded the previous day.

The low performance recorded during the day was supported by losses in the mid cap and highly capitalised stocks including Dangote Cement, Geregu Power, BuaCement, Zenith Bank, Dangote Sugar and 32 others.

The market dominated with bears, recording 38 decliners against 17 advancers, bringing the year-to-date return to 51.06 per cent.

An analysis of the trading during the day showed that SkyAVN led gainers table with 9.92 per cent to close at N171.20 per unit, International General Insurance followed with a gain of 9.66 per cent to close at N6.70 per unit, Tantalizer Plc added 6.98 per cent to close at N4.60 per share, Omatek increased by 5.70 per cent to close at N2.04 per unit and AIICO insurance added 5.19 per cent to close.

Contrary, BuaCement, Dangote Cement and Geregu Power topped losers’ chart with 10 per cent each, to close at N340.20, N963.00 and N917.40 per unit respectively.

Custodian insurance trailed with a loss of 9.97 per cent to close at N73.15 per unit, Academy Press down by 9.88 per cent to close at N7.30 per share.

Volume of trades also declined by 73.262 million, representing 13.49 per cent as investors traded 469.791 million shares against 543.053 million recorded the previous day. Value of transactions also went down by 0.47 per cent to settle at N20.556 billion in 45782 deals.

Transactions in the shares of FirstHoldco led market activities with 57.380 million shares valued at N3.515 billion, Chams Plc followed with account of 41.643 million shares worth N164.245 million, Access Holdings company traded 32.664 million shares cost N752.601 million, Linkage Assurance traded 31.935 million shares worth N49.249 million while Fidelity Bank exchanged 21.774 million shares valued at N404.220 million.