Equities Market extends loss to 3rd day, down N335bn

Equities Trading has extended the Bearish run to the third consecutive trading session with the market capitalization shedding N335 billion since last Friday , to close at N11.170 trillion on Tuesday.

The day’s performance indicates, equities investors have resorted to sector-wide profit booking, following gains recorded in preceding sessions.

The All-Share Index thus closed 1.10 per cent lower on Tuesday, to close at 32,457.49 points, moderating year-to-date gains to 20.95 per cent.

Market breadth was further trimmed 10 gainers against 31 losers. Red Star Express Plc led the day’s gainers by 10.14 per cent to close at N5.32 per share, while Honey Well Flourmills, followed with a gain of 9.84 per cent to close at N2.12 per share, Skye Bank added 4.76 percent to close at 66 kobo per share, AG Leventis increased 4.65 percent to close at 90 kobo per share and NNFM appreciated 4.01 percent to close at N5.70 per share.

On the other hand, Neimeth topped the day’s losers,with a decline of 8.54 per cent, to close at 75 kobo per share, UBA came next with a decline of 5.75 per cent to close at N8.20 per share. Flour Mills followed, with a loss of 5.07 per cent to close at N25.63, Julius Berger dipped 5.00 per cent to close at N33.83 per share;and Guinness fell 4.99 per cent. to close at N64.54 per share.

Total volume traded in 4,294 deals on Tuesday, increased to 206.2 million shares from 162.35 million shares traded the previous session. Total Value Traded also rose to N1.7 b, as against N1.52 b exchanged in 3,488 deals on Monday.

Fidelity Bank led day’s activity chart,with an exchange of 33.2 million shares worth N42.3 m. Transcorp was next with the sale of 24.4 million shares valued at N34.5 million, while Access traded 17.6 million shares worth N162.4m. FBN Holdings exchanged 15.6 million shares valued at N92.3 m; and Sterling Bank emerged the fifth most traded stock with 13.4 million shares worth N13.6 million.