Stock market further declines by 0.55%

Investors yesterday transacted 207.2 million shares in 2,791 deals for N1.6 billion, as market capitalization dropped by N48.4 billion to close at N8.769 trillion, from N8.818 trillion which opened trading.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 0.55 percent to close at 25,446.66 basis points from 25,587.09 it opened for trading, bringing equities market performance year-to-date to -5 percent.

Caverton and Betaglass led the 14 gainers with a growth of 5 percent each to close at 84 kobo and N31.50 per share respectively. Presco added 4.94 percent to close at N46.30, PharmaDeko gained 4.84 percent to close at N1.95, while Axamansard completed the top five gainers list with 4.83 percent appreciation to close at N1.52 per share.

Forte Oil led 21 other decliners with a loss of 6.47 percent to close at N56.82 per share, followed by Nestle which shed 5 percent to close at N646 per share. PZ Nigeria lost 4.97 percent to close at N12.23 per share, while International Breweries and NASCON dropped 4.94 percent each to close at N16.15 and N7.51 per share, respectively.

Diamond Bank was the most-traded with 31.5 million shares worth N27 million, followed by Fidelity Bank with 25.1 million shares valued at N21.8 million. UBA recorded 22.2 million shares worth N108.1 million. Standard Trust Assurance exchanged 20 million shares valued at N10 million, while Zenith Bank traded 18.7 million shares worth N280.4 million.