Stock Market Declines Further By N37bn

The bears continued to dominate the domestic stock market as capitalisation extended losses for a second consecutive session, falling by N37 billion at the end of yesterday trading.

Accordingly, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 67.93 points, representing a loss of 0.12 per cent to close at 55,956.59 points. Also, market capitalisation depreciated by N37 billion to close at N30.469 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Nigerian Breweries, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria and John Holt.

However, market breadth closed positive, as 41 stocks gained relative to 13 losers. E-Tranzact International, Japaul Gold & Ventures, Prestige Assurance, Secure Electronic Technology, Sovereign Trust Insurance and Unity Bank recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N4.84, 44 kobo, 44 kobo, 33 kobo, 44 kobo and 66 kobo respectively, per share.

MRS Oil Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.96 per cent to close at N59.60, while Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.90 per cent to close at N1.11, per share.

On the other hand, John Holt led the losers’ chart by 9.68 per cent, to close at N1.40, per share. Caverton Offshore Support Group followed with a decline of 7.14 per cent to close at N1.30, while Wapic Insurance declined by 6.52 per cent to close at 43 kobo, per share.

GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria depreciated by 5.30 per cent to close at N7.15, while Stanbic IBTC Holdings declined by 3.02 per cent to close at N45.00, per share.

The total volume traded increased by 33.74 per cent to 531.785 million units, valued at N7.682 billion, and exchanged in 6,061 deals. Transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA) topped the activity chart with 177.476 million shares valued at N1.724 billion.

NPF Microfinance Bank followed with 51.803 million shares worth N93.295 million, while Access Holdings traded 32.103 million shares valued at N412.987 million.

Zenith Bank traded 30.824 million shares valued at N863.315 million, while Dangote Sugar Refinery sold 19.303 million shares worth N407.969 million.