By Kayode Tokede
The bears continued to dominate transactions on the local bourse on Wednesday with investors net worth dropping further by N11 billion.
Consequently, the market capitalisation lost N11 billion or 0.05 per cent to close at N20.242 trillion against N20.253 trillion on Wednesday.
Also, the NGX All-Share Index shed 21.16 points or 0.05 per cent to close at 38,852.69 basis points from 38,873.85 basis points recorded on Tuesday.
Thus, the month-to-date and year-to-date losses increased to 0.9 per cent and 3.5 per cent, respectively.
The negative sentiment was driven by investors’ profit-taking sentiments in the banking and consumer goods sectors.
Sector performances were mixed today with the Banking (-0.83 per cent) and Consumer Goods (-0.02 per cent) sectors closing red, while Oil & Gas (+0.50 per cent) and Industrial (+0.01 per cent) sectors closed green.
The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are United Capital, Vitafoam Nigeria, Access Bank, Cutix and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO).
The market breadth closed negative with 17 losers in contrast with 13 gainers.
Veritas Kapital Assurance led the laggards’ chart in percentage terms by 8.70 per cent to close at 21k per share.
United Capital followed with five per cent to close at N8.55, while Chams shed 4.55 per cent to close at 21k per share.
Access Bank dropped 3.37 per cent to close at N8.60, while Japaul Gold and Ventures depreciated by 2.13 per cent to close at 46k per share.
Conversely, Transcorp Hotel drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 10 per cent to close at N4.95 per share.
Pharma Deko followed with 9.88 per cent to close at N1.78, while Conoil appreciated by 9.84 per cent to close at N24.55 per share.
Cornerstone Insurance increased by 8.16 per cent to close at 53k, while NEM Insurance appreciated by 5.26 per cent to close at N2 per share.
Transactions in the shares of Universal Insurance topped the activity chart with 19.04 million shares valued at N3.81 million.
United Bank for Africa followed with 18.78 million shares worth N143.09 million, while Zenith Bank traded 11.76 million shares valued at N268.83 million.
GTCO traded 10.02 million shares worth N271.26 million, while United Capital transacted 8.52 million shares worth N74.57 million.
In all, the total volume of trades declined by 15.54 per cent to 155.77 million shares worth N1.51 billion traded in 3,256 deals.
This was against a total of 184.44 million shares valued at N2.N21 billion transacted in 3,809 deals on Tuesday.
According to analysts at Investment One research, “The equities market closed down today due to the losses recorded in the Banking and Consumer Goods sector.
“Going forward, we expect investor’s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space.
“We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”