Equity market sustains selloffs in Tier-1 banks, down by N720bn

The value of transactions on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) on Wednesday further declined by 4.80 percent due to sustained selloffs in the shares of Tier- one banks.

Specifically, investors traded a total of 396.23 million shares valued at N5.83 billion in 10,549 deals, compared to 280.46 million shares valued at N6.12 billion exchanged in 9,141 deals posted on Tuesday.

Selloffs in the equities of FBN Holdings (FBNH), Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), and Zenith Bank dragged the market down.

Consequently, investors lost N720 billion or 1.31 percent, as the market capitalisation, which opened at N55.037 trillion, closed at N54.317 trillion.

The All-Share Index also shed 1.31 percent or 1,317 points to close at 99,266.02, as against 100,582.89 recorded in the previous session.

As a result, the Year-To-Date return on the index fell to 32.76 per cent.

Meanwhile, market breadth closed negative with 50 losers and four gainers on the trading floor.

Transcorp led the activity chart in volume with 52.57 million shares traded at the value of N675.58 million, United Bank of Africa (UBA) sold 39.47 million shares worth N823.93 million.

Access Corporation traded 35.29 million shares worth N621 million, while Zenith Bank led in value with sales 30.93 million shares worth N1 billion and Universal Insurance traded 23.22 million shares worth N8.11 million.

On the losers table, Wema Bank, Oando Plc, Nigerian Breweries, The Initiative Plc and Red Star Express Plc led in percentage terms of 10 each to close at N7.02, N9.90, N30.60,N1.80 and N3.42 per share, respectively.

Conversely, PZ Cusson led the gainers table in percentage terms of 10 to close at N29.15, Juli Plc rose by 9.93 percent to close at N3.10, while AXA Mansard gained 1.53 percent to close at N5.30 per share.

Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc also garnered 0.69 percent to close at N29, and Nigerian Police Force Microfinance Bank gained 0.55 percent to close at N1.84 per share.