Investors Lose N209bn in Six Hours at Stock Market

**As All-Share Index Drops to 29,000 Region

By Dipo Olowookere

The six-hour trading period on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday ended again on a negative note.

This was as a result of the further loss registered by the local bourse on Wednesday buoyed by profit-taking, which led to the reduction in the market value by N209 billion.

The stock market is yet to record any gain this week and from the look of things, the exchange might not close in the green territory this week.

During the midweek trading session, the stock market depreciated by 1.85 percent, which pushed the year-to-date loss to 5.61 percent.

Business Post reports that the All-Share Index (ASI) fell into the 29,000 region on Wednesday after going down by 558.04 points to settle at 29,668.73 points, the lowest in nearly three months, from 30,226.77 points in the previous session.

Similarly, the market capitalisation, which measures the total value of listed stocks on the exchange, reduced by N209 billion to finish at N11.144 trillion.

It was observed that despite the loss yesterday, the volume and value of trades increased by 43.94 percent and 24.83 percent respectively.

A total of 542.6 million equities worth N5.7 billion were transacted in 4,146 deals on Wednesday against the 377 million units of shares worth N4.5 billion traded on Tuesday in 4,018 deals.

Dominating the transactions chart was Sterling Bank, which recorded a turnover of 144.2 million shares sold for N348.9 million.

FCMB traded 68.7 million shares worth N125.6 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 55 million equities for N415 million.

Zenith Bank traded 35.7 million units of its stock for N739 million, while Access Bank exchanged 35.4 million equities valued at N207.4 million.

On the price movement log, Dangote Cement emerged as the day’s heaviest price loser, going down by N3 to finish at N190 per share.

International Breweries fell by N2.50k to close at N23.50k per share, while CCNN depreciated by N1.75k to end at N16.20k per share.

GTBank dropped N1 to finish at N35 per share, while Zenith Bank declined by 90 kobo to settle at N20.40k per share.

At the other side, Nestle Nigeria topped the gainers’ chart after adding N50 to its share value to close at N1450 per share.

It was followed by Nigerian Breweries, which grew by N3.10k to end at N60 per share, and Oando, which rose by 10 kobo to quote at N4.80k per share.

Sterling Bank gained 9 kobo to finish at N2.48k per share, while Fidelity Bank appreciated by 6 kobo to close at N1.87k per share.