Midweek Trade Drops Nigerian Stocks Value by N43b

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Bearish sentiments persisted on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, leading to the loss of N42.6 billion by investors at the close of transactions.

Investors continued with cautious trading today as they await the release of third quarter earnings of quoted companies on the NSE.

This reflected in the volume of shares exchanged in the midweek trade, which slightly depreciated at the close of business.

A total of 336 million shares worth N1.8 billion were transacted by investors on Wednesday against 353.2 million units exchanged on Tuesday valued at N3.3 billion.

Like the previous day, when Diamond Bank exchanged a total of 215.8 million shares worth N215.7 million at the market, today, it traded a total of 230.6 million shares worth N230.2 million.

Skye Bank exchanged 13.4 million shares valued at N6.8 million, while Zenith Bank moved 10.5 million shares for N265.8 million.

Furthermore, Fidelity Bank traded 9.7 million shares at N13.4 million, and FBN Holdings exchanged 9.1 million shares worth N55.5 million.

Business Post reports that at the close of trading activities on the floor of the NSE today, the market capitalisation declined by N43 billion to settle at N12.6 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 123.78 points to close at 36,652.82 points.

Also, the market breadth ended flat with 19 gainers and losers, while the year-to-date gain finished at 36.38 percent.

The top gainer at the stock market today was Seplat, which moved up by N7.51k to close at N480 per share.

Others were Nestle, which increased by N2.92k to finish at N1233.12k per share; CCNN, which rose by 86k to end at N10.18k per share; Guinness Nigeria, which advanced by 75k to settle at N99.25k per share; and Red Star Express, which improved by 24k to finish at N5.16k per share.

On the losers’ chart, Nigerian Breweries claimed the top spot with N4.90k loss to close at N164 per share.

It was followed by Stanbic IBTC, which fell by 95k to end at N40.5k per share, and UBA, which depreciated by 16k to finish at N9.18k per share.

Vita Foam crashed by 14k to close at N2.66k per share, while University Press Plc declined by 12k to settle at N2.45k per share.