Equities Investors Lose N553bn In Bearish Trading

The domestic equities market yesterday recorded its third consecutive loss this week, bringing down the benchmark Index by N553 billion or 1.88 per cent as investors sold off Airtel Africa and 13 others.

The decline puts the index on track for another week of loss. The All Share Index (ASI) decreased by 1,016.42 absolute points, representing a dip of 1.88 per cent to close at 53,018.97 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N553 billion to close at N28.883 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Airtel Africa, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Unilever Nigeria, Multiverse Mining and Exploration and Champion Breweries.

Also, market breadth closed negative, with 11 gainers versus 14 losers. Wapic Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 7.50 per cent to close at 43 kobo, per share. Mutual Benefits Assurance followed with a gain 6.25 per cent to close at 34 kobo, while CWG rose 5.26 per cent to close at N1.00, per share.

Eterna went up by 4.46 per cent to close at N5.85, while Cutix appreciated by 3.60 per cent to close at N2.30, per share.

On the other hand, Airtel Africa led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at N1,331.10, per share, per share. Ikeja Hotel followed with a decline of 9.85 per cent each to close at N1.19, while Multiverse Mining & Exploration lost 9.59 per cent to close at N2.64, per share.

Royal Exchange lost 9.33 per cent to close at 68 kobo, while Flour Mills of Nigeria shed 4.84 per cent to close at N29.50, per share.

The total volume traded declined by 33.50 per cent to 197.331 million units, valued at N2.675 billion, and exchanged in 3,506 deals. Transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA) topped the activity chart with 61.129 million shares valued at N510.926 million.

Transnational Corporation (Transcorp) followed with 23.631 million shares worth N32.671 million, while Zenith Bank traded 12.369 million shares valued at N314.254 million.

Oando traded 9.452 million shares valued at N53.087 million, while Mutual Benefits Assurance transacted 4.215 million shares worth N1.391 million.