Equities Market: Week opens with N13.3 bn loss

By Ihesiulo Grace

22 November 2016

Business

The downtrend in the Nigerian equities market persisted yesterday with investors losing N13.3 billion at the start of the week.

Investors worth tracked by the market capitalization which opened Monday at N8.791 trillion lost 0.15 percent or N13.3 billion to close the day at N8.778 trillion

The All Share Index also dropped by 0.15 percent to close at 25,499.00 points from 25,537.54 points recorded in previous session, increasing the year to date losses to 10.97 percent.

Also measuring the day’s market performance was the total volume traded that declined by 32 percent to 112.4 million shares valued at N858.5 million in 2,532 deals, compared to 165.6 million units valued at N888.2 million exchanged in 2,279 deals last Friday.

Transcorp emerged the most traded stock for the day with 19.9 million shares valued at N13.6 million. Skye Bank followed with 14.1 million shares worth N7.1 million, while Diamond Bank traded 10.1 million shares valued at N9.2 million. FCMB was responsible for 9.1 million shares worth N9.4 million and UBA came fifth, exchanging 8.5 million shares for N36.3 million.

Investors’ appetite remained weak as the market closed with 13 gainers paired against 17 losers. Transcorp Hotels led the gainers chart with a 4.95 percent growth to close at N5.51 per share, followed by Flourmills with a gain of 4.94 percent to close at N17 per share, while Fidson Healthcare recorded a 4.84 percent growth to close at N1.30 per share. Cutix added 4.76 percent to close at N1.98 per share and Africa Prudential Registrars emerged the top fifth gainer with an appreciation of 3.92 percent to close at N2.65 per share.

On the other hand, Dangote Sugar led the declining stocks by 4.94 percent to close at N6.16 per share, this was followed by Continental Re-insurance that shed 4.81 percent to close at 99 kobo per share and Neimeth Pharmaceuticals that lost 4.65 percent to close at 82 kobo per share. Wema Bank and Transcorp Nigeria likewise dropped 3.64 and 2.86 percent each to close at 53 kobo and 68 kobo per share respectively.