Bearish sentiments dominated activities at the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, as its All-Share Index (ASI) fell 0.05 percent at the close of trading, extending the market’s losing streak to five sessions.
As a result, investors’ wealth shrank by N13.532 billion, leaving the market capitalization at N28.869 trillion, down from N28.882 trillion at the start of the year, bringing the market’s YTD gain to 3.4 percent.
Investor sentiment was largely negative, as measured by market breadth, with 19 stocks losing value while only 9 gained.
UPL was the biggest loser, falling by a whopping 10.00 percent to close the day’s trade at N1.80 per share. It was trailed by STERLING, which fell 7.50 percent to N1.48 per share, and WAPIC, which fell 6.98 percent to N0.40 per share.
Similarly, the value of ETERNA and FTNCOCOA fell by 5.98 percent and 3.57 percent, respectively, to close at N5.50 and N0.27 per share.
On the plus side, AIICO was the best-performing stock, increasing by 5.26 percent to N0.60 per share, followed by ACADEMY, which increased by 4.65 percent to N1.35 per share, and CHAMS, which increased by 4.35 percent to N0.24 per share.
UBA and CHAMPION both gained 2.40 percent and 2.00 percent, respectively, closing at N8.55 and N5.10 per share.
At the end of yesterday’s trading session on the local bourse, a total of 266.953 million shares worth N1.929 billion were traded in 3,651 transactions. The data shows a 35% increase in volume, a 28% decrease in turnover, and a 4% increase in deals when compared to the previous session.
The most active stock of the day was TRANSCORP, which exchanged 147.152 million shares with a market value of N205.686 million, followed by ZENITHBANK, which exchanged 19.107 million shares worth N487.110 million. UBA also traded 18.019 shares worth N152.385 million.
