The Nigerian equities market closed on Thursday with a marginal decline as the benchmark index settled at 47,656.64 basis points which is 0.01% or 3.4 basis points lower than the 47,660.04 basis points seen on Wednesday.
Similarly, market capitalization shed ₦2billion or 0.01% to close at ₦25,957trn as against yesterday’s ₦25,959trn.
The day’s bearish performance is attributed to selloffs in Telco heavyweight, MTN NIGERIA COMMUNICATIONS PLC (-1.60%), offset gains in Tier-1 banking names, ZENITH BANK PLC (+3.88%), GUARANTY TRUST HOLDING COMPANY PLC (+1.50%) and ACCESS HOLDINGS PLC (+1.76%).
The total volume of shares traded stood at 172.90 million units, valued at ₦2.84 billion, and exchanged in 3,073 deals.
FCMB GROUP PLC was the most traded stock by volume at 49.80 million units, while MTN NIGERIA COMMUNICATIONS PLC was the most traded stock by value at ₦891.98 million.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment closed positive with 13 advancing issues outnumbering 11 declining ones.
UPDC REAL ESTATE INVESTMENT TRUST topped the advancers chart with an increase of 0.25k or 9.09% from a previous selling price of ₦2.75k per share to ₦3.00k per share.
Next is MCNICHOLS PLC rising from 0.56k per share to 0.61k per share by 0.05k or 8.93%. Followed by JAPAUL GOLD & VENTURES PLC with a 0.02k or 7.41% gain to close at 0.29k per share from 0.27k per share.
Conversely, HONEYWELL FLOUR MILL PLC led the laggard’s table with a decline from ₦2.28k per share to ₦2.10k per share, losing 0.18k or 7.89%.
While R T BRISCOE PLC fell from 0.27k per share to 0.25k per share by 0.02k or 7.41%. And WEMA BANK PLC shed off 0.18k or 5.45% from ₦3.30k per share to settle at ₦3.12k per share.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Banking (+2.2%) and Consumer Goods (+0.8%) indices recorded gains, while the Insurance (-0.1%) and Oil & Gas (-0.1%) indices declined. The Industrial Goods index remained flat.
Olusola Akintonde
