Feyisayo Popoola
The nation’s equities market recorded its highest daily loss in eight months at the close of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday.
Sell-offs drove the NSE All Share Index lower by a record 3.5 per cent to close at 32,292.79 basis points.
The market capitalisation of listed equities dropped below N12tn, losing N422.2bn to close at N11.784tn on Wednesday.
The year-to-date loss dipped to 15.6 per cent while activity level strengthened as a total of 246.906 million stocks valued at N6.930bn exchanged hands in 3,912 deals, an increase of 63.9 per cent and 334.0 per cent in volume and value, respectively.
The top traded stocks by volume were Access Bank Plc (46.2 million), FBN Holdings Plc (22.6 million) and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (19.7 million), while the top traded stocks by value were Dangote Cement Plc (N3.9bn), Nestlé Nigeria Plc (N748m) and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (N519.2m).
Sector performance was largely bearish as only the oil and gas Index gained.
Gains in Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc and Forte Oil Plc by 0.6 per cent and 4.4 per cent, respectively, drove the index 0.4 per cent higher.
The industrial index fell by 3.9 per cent following sell pressures in Dangote Cement Plc and Cement Co. of North Nigeria Plc, which declined by 5.8 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively.
Similarly, the banking index fell by 2.8 per cent on the back of losses in Stanbic IBTC Holdings Plc and Access Bank Plc, which declined by 8.9 per cent and 8.6 per cent, respectively.
Continued sell-offs in Nigerian Breweries Plc and profit-taking in Nestlé Nigeria Plc pulled the consumer goods index down by 1.6 per cent.Likewise, the insurance index closed at 1.4 per cent lower on the back of losses in NEM Insurance Plc and AIICO Insurance Plc, with respective declines of 3.2 per cent and 6.7 per cent.Ten stocks recorded price appreciations while 37 stocks declined.The top five gainers were Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc, Skye Bank Plc, Jaiz Bank Plc, Wema Bank Plc and Japaul Oil & Maritime Services Plc.Law Union saw its share price increase by 9.09 per cent to close at N0.60, while Skye Bank appreciated by 8.93 per cent to close at N0.61 per share.Jaiz Bank appreciated by six per cent to close at N0.53 per share, while Wema Bank and Japaul Oil saw their share prices increase by 5.26 per cent and 4.55 […]