Stock market closes negative, as investors lose N162bn

By Philemon Adedeji

Yesterday, at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), equities market halted its five-day winning streak as the benchmark All-Share Index (ASI) shed 297.65 basis points or 0.50 per cent to close at 55,508.61Index points from 55,806.26 Index points it closed for previous trading day.

The cause of negative performance was due to Selloffs in telco heavyweight, Airtel Africa (-5.25 per cent) as well as WAPCO (-1.46 per cent) underpinned the market’s weak performance despite gains in BUAFOODS (+5.56 per cent), Zenith Bank (+0.57 per cent) and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) (+0.94 per cent).

As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 8.31 per cent, while market capitalisation lost N162.15 billion to close at N30.24 trillion.

The downturn performance caused by price depreciation in medium and large capitalised stocks which are Johnholts, Ecobank Transnational Incorporation, Airtel Africa, Zenith Bank and six others.

Analysis of yesterday’s market activities indicated trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 49.77 per cent.

Transnational Corporation led the volume chart with 47.89 million units traded while Capital Hotel led the value chart in deals worth N1.26 billion.

The market sentiments as measured by breadth closed negative as 30 stocks dominated the gainers as against 10 stocks that dominated the losers.

The trade volume increased by 138.5 per cent to close at 565,822,657 million units worth N6.578 billion were exchanged in 4,340 deals.

On the performance board, Veritas Kapital Insurance led as the most price gainer which appreciated 10.00 per cent increased to close at N0.22 per share, closely followed by Ardova Oil which grew significantly by 9.76 per cent to close at N18.55 per share, while Wema Bank which recorded as the last third gainer rose by 8.75 per cent to close at N4.35 per share.

Tip which recorded as the last fourth gainer went up by 8.33 per cent to close at N0.52 per share.

Geregu Power which recorded as the last fifth loser grew by 8.20 per cent to close at N298.10 per share.

On the losers chart, Johnholts led the losers chart with 9.66 per cent to close at N1.59 per share, Ecobank Transnational Incorporation which followed lost 7.69 per cent to close at N12. 00 per share, Airtel Africa depreciated by 5.25 per cent to close at N1535 per share.

United Capital which recorded as the last fourth loser dipped by 3.91 per cent to close at N14.75 per share.

FTNCOCOA processor declined by 3.45 per cent to close at N0.28 per share.

Transaction in the shares of Capital Hotel topped the activities chart with 333.236 million shares worth 2.332 billion, followed by Transnational Corporation which transacted 47.892 million shares valued by 67.001 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company traded 46.625 million shares worth 1.258 billion.

Oando Plc transacted 19.977 million shares valued at 102.325 million.Access Corporation traded 19.416 million shares valued at 18.620 million.