By Chinyere Joel-Nwokeoma
The Nigerian stock market resumed trading on Wednesday after the Christmas holidays with a loss of N238 billion due to profit taking.
Speficially, the market capitalisation which opened at N22.060 trillion lost N238 billion or 1.08 per cent to close at N21.822 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index inched lower by 455.75 points or 1.08 per cent to close at 41,807.10 against 42,262.85 achieved on Friday.
Accordingly, month-to-date loss increased to 3.3 per cent, while the year-to-date gain moderated to 3.8 per cent.
The market resumed trading activities after the public holidays on Dec. 27 and 28 declared by the federal government to mark Christmas and Boxing Day celebration.
The market’s negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are: BUA Cement, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), PZ Cussons, May & Baker and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
Market sentiment was slightly positive with 17 gainers relative to 16 losers.
BUA Cement led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N67.05 per share.
May & Baker followed with a decline of 9.98 per cent to close at N4.06, while PZ Cussons lost 8.96 per cent to close at N6.10 per share.
Jaiz Bank declined 8.06 per cent to close at 57k, while UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust shed 6.25 per cent to close at N3.75 per share.Conversely, Union Bank of Nigeria drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms by 9.91 per cent to close at N6.10 per share.Royal Exchange followed with 9.09 per cent to close at 84k, while Sovereign Trust Insurance rose by 7.69 per cent to close at 28k per share.Livestock Feeds was up by 6.86 per cent to close at N2.18, while Caverton Offshore Support Group appreciated by 2.99 per cent to close at N1.72 per share.However, the total volume traded increased by 61.10 per cent with an exchange of 180.182 million units valued at N1.48 billion exchanged in 3,828 deals.This was in contrast with 111.84 million shares worth N911.92 million traded in 2,072 deals on Friday.Transactions in the shares of Jaiz Bank topped the activity chart with 17.65 million shares valued at N10.53 million.Union Bank followed with 16.80 million shares worth N101.83 million, while UACN traded 12.88 million shares valued at N123.52 million.Transcorp sold 11.39 million shares worth N11.25 million, while Sovereign Trust Insurance transacted 9.99 million shares valued at N2.78 million.8