Equities market deprecates by N67bn

The Nigeria equities market nudged slightly lower yesterday reversing some of the gains of prior day’s session as the overall market capitalisation lost N67 billion.

The All Share Index (ASI) declined by 123.28 points, representing a loss of 0.12 per cent to close at 101,239.10 points. Also, market capitalisation depreciated by N67 billion to close at N55.397 trillion.

The downtrend was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Stanbic IBTC Holdings, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Wema Bank, Access Holdings and Transnational Corporation (Transcorp).

Market breadth closed negative as 20 stocks gained relative to 28 decliners. SUNU Assurance and Omatek Venture recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N2.09 and 77 kobo respectively, while Juli followed with a gain of 9.79 per cent to close at N2.13, per share.

Caverton Offshore Support Group rose by 9.52 per cent to close at N1.84, while NEM Insurance appreciated by 9.09 per cent to close at N6.60, per share. On the other hand, DAAR Communications led the losers’ chart by 10 per cent to close at 72 kobo, per share. Wema Bank followed with a decline of 9.93 per cent to close at N7.80, while PZ Cussons Nigeria lost 9.89 per cent to close at N24.60, per share.

Academy Press depreciated by 9.84 per cent to close at N1.74, while Morison Industries declined by 9.76 per cent to close at N1.85, per share.

The total volume traded declined by 16.43 per cent to 252.997 million units, valued at N4.944 billion, and exchanged in 7,248 deals. Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings (FBNH) topped the activity chart with 31.858 million shares valued at N917.272 million. United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 22.281 million shares worth N533.240 million, while Access Holdings traded 14.489 million shares valued at N312.144 million.

Prestige Assurance traded 13.591 million shares valued at N8.032 million, while Zenith Bank sold 12.539 million shares worth N447.675 million.