Floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange Nigerian stocks posted loss for the fourth day in a row on Thursday, declining 0.51 per cent as sell-offs in bellwether stocks including Seplat, MTNN, GTCO and Zenith triggered the pullback.
All the five sector indexes tracked by the bourse contracted, with the oil and gas index taking the biggest blow as equities shed N112.3 billion.
Market breadth, which gauges the depth of investor sentiment, was negative as 34 laggards were recorded compared to 17 gainers.
The all-share index eased 215.18 basis points to close at 42.247.98, while market capitalisation closed lower at N22.04 trillion.
Year to date, the index is up 4.91 per cent. TOP FIVE GAINERS
Meyer was the most profitable stock led, appreciating by 10 per cent to N0.22. NEM went up by 7.33 per cent to N2.05. Royal Exchange rose to N0.54, notching up 5.88 per cent.
Japaul added 5.26 per cent to end the trade at N0.40. FTN Cocoa completed the top 5, climbing by 4.26 per cent to N0.22. TOP FIVE LOSERS
BOC Gases was the worst performing stock, dropping 10 per cent to close at N9.45. UPDC shed 9.09 per cent to close at N0.90.
Trans-Nationwide Express fell to N0.81, losing 8.99 per cent. Living Trust slumped to N0.88, recording 8.33 per cent depreciation. Mansard closed at N2.10, going down by 7.89 per cent. TOP 5 TRADES
Altogether 324 million shares estimated at N5.3 billion were traded in 4,706 deals.
FBN Holdings was the most active stock for the second day running with 113.4 million units of its stocks worth N1.3 billion traded in 293 deals. GTCO’s shares numbering 33.5 million and priced at N821.1 million exchanged hands in 453 transactions.Access had 19 million shares valued at N170.7 million traded in 203 deals. Transcorp traded 18.1 million shares estimated at N18.2 million in 113 transactions. Zenith traded 14.6 million shares valued at N346.5 million in 388 deals.
