NGX Relapses, Down 0.90% As Market Cap Sheds N256.69bn

Samuel Mobolaji

The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday halt its three days consecutive bullish run, as market index shed 0.90 per cent, while capitalization declined by N256.69 billion.

Specifically, the local bourse yesterday, erased accumulated gains for the first three day trading sessions earlier this week, as the benchmark index shed 0.90 per cent to close at 52,109.43 points.

Also, the market capitalization which had been having positive run since the beginning of the week had bullish run relapsed, closing at N28.37 trillion, compared to N28.63 trillion declared on Wednesday and N28.54 trillion recorded on Tuesday.

Latest figure obtained from the NGX closing statistics for the day, indicated that the market’s loss was primarily driven by the decline in telco heavyweight, AIRTELAFRI (-6.00%).

Consequently, the decline puts the index on track for another week of loss, while the Year-To-Date (YTD) return fell to 1.67 per cent.

However, analysis of yesterday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 34.77 per cent.

A total of 334.24m shares valued at N5.15billion were exchanged in 5,350 deals. ACCESSCORP (+0.50%) led the volume chart with 64.69m units traded, while GTCO (+0.19%) led the value chart in deals worth N1.34billion.

Market breadth closed negative at a 1.29-to-1 ratio with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones. ACADEMY (-10.00%) led twenty-one (21) others on the laggard’s log while COURTVILLE (+9.30%) topped sixteen (16) others on the leader’s table.