The Nigerian equities market ended Wednesday’s trading session lower, with key indicators, the NGX All-Share Index and Market Capitalization both slipping by 0.06% for the second time this week.
The decline was largely triggered by continued profit-taking activities in some mid-cap and blue-chip stocks.
The market index, NGX-ASI dipped further by -114.41 basis points in today’s trading session, indicating a -0.06% decline to close at 194,370.20 points compared to the 194,484.61 points of the previous day.
Similarly, the Market Capitalization fell by ₦73.45 billion, representing a decline of -0.06%, to at ₦124.75 trillion.
Among the decliners for the day included UBA, ZENITHBANK, WAPCO, OANDO, GTCO, ACCESSCORP, and others, across key market sectors.
The market sectoral performance was negative as four of the five major market sectors depreciated.
The Insurance sector declined by -3.79%, followed by the Banking sector -2.07%, the Oil & Gas sector -0.24%, and the Industrial goods sector -0.22%. Only the Consumer goods sector increased by +1.19%.
However, the total volume of trades increased by +19.32% while the total value traded on the other hand, declined by -14.99%.
At the close of trade a total of 1,357.20 million units of shares valued at ₦45,355.18 million were transacted across 69,642 deals.
The highest volume of trades in stock was from FTGINSURE which generated 14.15% to emerge the most traded, followed by ZENITHBANK with 8.82%, JAPAULGOLD had 8.39%, ELLAHLAKES recorded 7.19%, and ACCESSCORP 4.61%.
On value traded, ZENITHBANK generated 24.24% of the total value of trade, thereby making it the highest traded on the exchange.
Price Movement
The market sentiment when measured by market breadth closed on a negative note as there were 22 gainers and 53 losers.
The best performers’ chart was led by JAIZBANK which gained +9.95%, then trailed by OKOMUOIL with +9.93%, while TRANSEXPR had +9.77% profit on its share, FTGINSURE gained +9.72%, CHAMPION added +5.39%, then AFRIPRUD recorded a +5.00% profit, and 16 others.
On the flip side, a total of fifty-three (53) stocks depreciated. ABCTRANS and RTBRISCOE topped the decline performers’ chart with a 10% drop on their respective share prices followed by SKYAVN which lost -9.98%, HMCALL dropped by -9.93%, VITAFOAM -9.93%, UNIONDICON -9.78%, and NGXGROUP fell by -9.75%.