Equities Market Extends Bearish Run By N878bn Loss

The Nigerian equities market extended its bearish run, shedding N878 billion as persistent selling pressure weighed on investor sentiment.

The All-Share Index declined by 1,368.10 per cent, representing a loss of 0.61 per cent, to close at 224,321.97 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation shed N878 billion to close at N143.947 trillion.

The market negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; Lafarge Africa, First Holdco, Zenith Bank, Oando and NEM Insurance.

On market performance, APT Securities & Funds Limited said that the session was characterized by bearish sentiment despite stronger trading activity, as selling pressure outweighed buying interest and kept the market in negative territory.

As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative (0.4x), as 12 tickers gained relative to 31 losers. Austin Laz & Company and Learn Africa recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N3.63 and N9.90 respectively, while Daar Communications followed with a gain of 9.49 per cent to close at N1.50, per share.

UPDC rose by 9.09 per cent to close at N3.60, while Caverton Offshore Support Group rose by 8.51 per cent to close at N5.10 per share.

On the other hand, Guinea Insurance led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at 90 kobo, per share. Critical Minerals Financing Corp (CMFC) followed with a decline of 9.87 per cent to close at N3.56, while Fortis Global Insurance lost 9.85 per cent to close at N3.57, per share.

International Energy Insurance went down by 9.84 per cent to close at N5.22, while McNichols declined by 9.50 per cent to close at N6.90 per share.

The total volume traded increased by 95.5 per cent to 855.40 million units, valued at N28.42 billion, and exchanged in 51,609 deals. Transactions in the shares of Sterling Financial Holdings Company topped the activity chart with 459.594 million shares valued at N3.661 billion. Zenith Bank followed with 41.150 million shares worth N4.198 billion, while Universal Insurance traded 30.225 million shares valued at N25.233 million.

Access Holdings traded 29.652 million shares valued at N654.889 million, while FCMB Group transacted 28.191 million shares worth N271.357 million.