Stock Market Performance Weakens Further as Investors Lose N9b

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further closed marginally lower on Wednesday, extending the downward trend to the second trading day.

Business Post reports that there were profit taking activities recorded in the banking space, especially on tier one banks.

At the close of transactions, the equities market went down by 0.06 percent with the Year-to-Date (YtD) gain shrinking further to -0.73 percent.

While the market capitalisation depreciated by N9 billion to settle at N13.753 trillion, the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 24.61 points to finish at 37,963.93 points.

The market breadth on Wednesday ended negative with the market recording 36 price losers and 12 price gainers.

The day’s heaviest price loser at the stock market was Okomu Oil, which declined by N1.70k to settle at N92.50k per share.

It was followed by CCNN, which crashed by N1.20k to close at N23.50k per share, and Seplat, which reduced by N1 to end at N650 per share.

Mobil Oil Nigeria also depreciated by N1 to finish at N181 per share, while Zenith Bank dropped 50 kobo to close at N25 per share.

On the other hand, Total Nigeria topped the gainers’ table after appreciating by N7.20k to settle at N200.50k per share.

Stanbic IBTC increased by N1 to end at N50 per share, while Lafarge grew by 95 kobo to finish at N40 per share.

Union Bank of Nigeria went up by 25 kobo to end at N6.15k per share, while Africa Prudential rose by 15 kobo to close at N4 per share.

It was observed that at the close of transactions, the volume of shares traded by investors today went down by 31.02 percent, while the total value of equities decreased by 32.51 percent.

A total of 372.2 million shares were transacted on Wednesday in 3,800 deals worth N3.2 billion against the 539.7 million shares valued at N4.7 billion equities sold on Tuesday.

The day’s busiest stock today was Sterling Bank, which traded a total of 172.6 million shares worth N241 million.

It was followed by Zenith Bank, which exchanged 31.5 million equities valued at N792.7 million, and Transcorp, which transacted 22.9 million units for N32 million.

United Capital sold 21.2 million shares valued at N69.3 million, while UBA transacted 16.6 million equities worth N175.8 million.