Equities market suffers fresh losses, sheds N613bn

The Nigerian equities market extended its losing streak with investors losing N613 billion as sustained sell-offs across major oil and gas, banking, industrial and consumer goods stocks weighed on trading.

The market capitalization fell by 0.39 per cent from N157.493 trillion to N156.880 trillion, while the All-Share Index declined by 949.71 points, or 0.39 per cent, to close at 243,017.38 from 243,967.09.

The decline further weakened the market’s year-to-date return to 56.17 per cent, while market breadth closed negative, with 41 losers against 16 gainers.

Unilever Nigeria led the losers’ chart, declining by 9.97 per cent to close at N118.30 per share. Chellarams followed with a 9.66 per cent decline to N10.75, while NIDF fell by 9.55 per cent to N147.70 per share.

Also Read: NGX reverses gains, loses N1.17tn in market value

Daar Communications dropped by 9.25 per cent to N1.57, while Cornerstone Insurance declined by 9.09 per cent to close at N5 per share.

On the gainers’ chart, International Energy Insurance led with a 10 per cent increase to close at N4.84 per share. John Holt followed with a 9.89 per cent gain to N10, while Trans-Nationwide Express rose by 9.75 per cent to N2.59 per share.

Sunu Assurances gained 8.48 per cent to close at N3.58, while Nem Insurance appreciated by 6.25 per cent to N34 per share.

Meanwhile, market activity strengthened during the session, with total volume traded rising by 191.22 per cent to 4.24 billion shares, valued at N50.65 billion, across 41,545 deals.

Cornerstone Insurance dominated trading by volume and value, with 3.64 billion shares traded. The stock accounted for 85.82 per cent of the total volume and 36.26 per cent of the total value traded.

NAN