By Dipo Olowookere
The downward trajectory on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on Wednesday as a result of persistent selloff.
This made it the third consecutive trading session the market was closing in the red zone this week as investors await the release of half year earnings of companies quoted on the stock exchange later this month.
At the close of transactions yesterday, the local bourse finished 0.28 percent lower with the Year-to-Date (YtD) returns standing at -1.95 percent.
Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 106.05 points to settle at 37,499.07 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N38 billion to finish at N13.584 trillion.
However, the volume of shares traded on Wednesday by investors increased by 96.49 percent as well as the value of trades, which went up by 18.08 percent.
A total of 505.7 million shares were traded yesterday in 3,906 deals valued at N3.1 billion compared with the 257.4 million equities worth N2.7 billion transacted the previous day.
However, unlike the past sessions, where the financial stocks dominate trades at the NSE, equities in the Natural Resources sector led the activity chart yesterday with a total of 200 million units of shares in the sector exchanged for N40 billion.
The Financial Services followed with 136.5 million shares transacted for N1.8 billion.
Like in the previous day, shares of Multiverse Resources were the most traded at the market on Wednesday with a total of 200 million units sold for N40 million.
It was followed by NAHCO, which traded 125.1 million units for N747.3 million, and GTBank, which sold 28.4 million units at N1.1 billion.
Access Bank exchanged 18.9 million shares worth N195.4 million, while FCMB traded 13.9 million equities valued at N30.8 million.
On the price movement chart, shares of Nestle Nigeria suffered the heaviest loss after going down by N10 to lead the laggards’ table, closing at N1500 per share yesterday.
It was followed by Unilever Nigeria, which depreciated by N3.75k to close at N51.25k per share, and Nigerian Breweries, which fell by N2.90k to settle at N111 per share.
Forte Oil went down by N2.90k to end at N26.10k per share, while Conoil declined by N2.50k to close at N27.50k per share.
Conversely, Eterna Oil led the gainers’ chart on Wednesday after adding 50 kobo to its share value to close at N7 per share.
GTBank gained 40 kobo to end at N40 per share, while Zenith Bank garnered 30 kobo to settle at N24.30k per share.
May & Baker appreciated yesterday by 20 kobo to close at N2.25k per share, while FCMB also increased by 20 kobo to finish at N2.28k per share.
