Equities Market Index Slumps 3.23% As Capitalization Shed N859.18bn

The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday further extended its losing trend as the All-Share Index plunged 3.23 per cent, the most in a single day since 12 March 2020, to close at 47,259.27 points – the lowest level in almost six months (12 April).

Also, the market capitalization shed N859.18billion to close at N25.74trillion, due to selloffs in the two NGX-listed telecom stocks, AIRTELAFRI (-10.00%), which suffered its most significant decline since 9 July 2021, and MTNN (-1.20%), weighed heavily on the overall market.

As a result, the ASI’s year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 10.63 per cent, while Analysis of today’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions increasing by 13.39 per cent. A total of 140.67m units of shares valued at N2.52billion were exchanged in 4,371 deals.

GTCO (-2.02%) led the volume chart with 27.73m units traded, while GEREGU (+9.91%) led the value chart, for the second consecutive session, in deals worth N586.76million.

Market breadth closed negative at a 1.64-to-1 ratio, with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones. AIRTELAFRI (-10.00%) led twenty-two (22) others on the laggard’s table, while GEREGU (+9.91%) topped thirteen (13) others on the gainer’s log.