The Nigerian stock market reversed its previous session gains, with investors losing N337 billion on Wednesday. The Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) market capitalisation, which started at N58.852 trillion, fell by N337 billion, or 0.57 percent, to close at N58.515 trillion.
The All-Share Index fell 0.57 percent, or 556.4 points, to 96,567.24, down from Tuesday’s finish of 97,123.61. As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return declined to 29.15 percent. Market breadth also closed slightly negative, with 21 losers and 20 gainers on the exchange floor.
On the losers’ chart, UBA led by 9.99 percent to settle at N31.55, with Oando trailing by 9.98 percent to close at N65.40 per share. Thomas Wyatt Nigeria lost 9.79% to close at N1.75, NASCON fell 7.83% to N30, and LASACO down 7.50% to N2.22 a share.
On the gainers’ table, Eunisell led by 9.87% to conclude at N7.46, while Regency Alliance Insurance lagged by 9.30% to close at 47k per share. Veritas Kapital Assurance jumped 9.17% to close at N1.31, Daar Communications increased 8.93% to close at 61k, and FCMB increased 7.73% to N9.75 a share.
The market relapse was principally led by selloffs in Tier-one banking tickers, including Guarantee Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Zenith Bank, and United Bank For Africa (UBA), as well as Oando Plc and Transnational Corporation. Analysis of market operations revealed that trade turnover settled lower than the previous session, with the value of transactions falling by 60.73 percent.
A total of 418.39 million shares valued at N10.04 billion were traded in 9,021 transactions, compared to 3.60 billion shares valued at N25.57 billion traded in 10,679 transactions earlier reported. Meanwhile, Sterling Nigeria dominated the activity chart with 79.65 million shares, while UBA lead the value chart with deals of N2.57 billion.
