Index Loses 3.46% Wednesday as Investors Pull Out N423b

By Dipo Olowookere

The worrying losses at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on Wednesday with the market closing 3.46 percent lower.

At the close of transactions yesterday, the local market’s year-to-date return was deep in the mess at -15.56 percent.

Significant selloffs were witnessed at the market as investors continue to take exit as a result of weakened investors’ confidence as well as warnings from analysts about the economic outlook for Nigeria.

The All-Share Index (ASI) lost 1156.38 points on Wednesday to close at 32,292.79 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N423 billion to finish at N11.789 trillion.

Like in the previous sessions, the market breadth ended negative with 37 price losers and 11 price gainers.

After losing N13 at the close of market yesterday, Dangote Cement emerged as the highest price loser, quoting at N210 per share.

It was followed by Nestle Nigeria, which fell by N6 to end at N1479 per share, and Nigerian Breweries, which depreciated by N4 to settle at N84 per share.

Stanbic IBTC also depressed by N4 to end at N41 per share, while CCNN went down by 3.05k to finish at N27.85k per share.

Conversely, Seplat topped the gainers’ chart on Wednesday after appreciating by N3.70k to settle at N606.70k per share.

It was trailed by Forte Oil, which rose by 80 kobo to end at N18.90k per share, and GTBank, which appreciated by 10 kobo to close at N32.60k per share.

United Capital garnered 6 kobo at the market yesterday to finish at N2.80k per share, while Skye Bank rose by 5 kobo to end at 61 kobo per share.

It was observed that shares of Access Bank, FBN Holdings, Transcorp, Dangote Cement and Zenith Bank were heavily traded at the market on Wednesday.

These and others contributed to the 63.87 percent rise in the volume of shares traded yesterday as well as the 334.03 percent increase in the value of traded stocks.

A total of 246.9 million equities worth N6.9 billion exchanged hands yesterday compared with the 150.7 million units valued at N1.6 billion transacted in the previous session.

A further breakdown revealed that the Financial Services sector led the activity chart with 172.8 million shares exchanged for N1.7 billion, followed by the Conglomerates, which transacted 20 million equities valued at N26 million.