Stocks market return to bear as investors lose N21.37bn

Stocks market return to bear as investors lose N21.37bn

The equities segment of the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) on Thursday returned to the bearish performance after gaining on Wednesday as investors’ wealth declined by N21.37billion.

As a result, the market capitalisation closed at N23.97trillion against N23.991 trillion recorded in the previous trading session.

Also, the bears dominated the domestic bourse as the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 0.09 per cent to settle at 44,011.22 points, compared to 238.69 absolute points, representing a gain of 0.54 per cent to close at 44,046.94 points at the close Wednesday trading session.

Analysis of the market performance showed that the market’s weak performance was primarily driven by selloffs in Tier-1 banks, ZENITHBANK (-2.29%), GTCO (-1.55%) and ACCESSCORP (-0.60%).

Nevertheless, the market remains on track for another weekly loss. Consequently, the ASI’s year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 3.03 per cent, while trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 70.36 per cent.

A total of 97.70m shares valued at 847.88million were exchanged in 2,980 deals.

TRANSCORP (+0.00%) led the volume chart with 10.65m units traded while GTCO (-1.55%) led the value chart in deals worth N134.00million.

Market breadth closed negative at a 1.5-to-1 ratio with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones. GUINNESS (-9.97%) topped seventeen (17) others on the laggard’s table, while UNILEVER (+10.00%) led eleven (11) others on the gainer’s log.