Investors Lose N93bn as Market Cap Drops Below N13tn

• Investors Lose N93bn as Market Cap Drops Below N13tn

Investors lost N93bn on Tuesday as the market capitalisation of equities listed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange dropped below the N13tn mark.

The market capitalisation dropped to N12.957tn from N13.050tn on Monday.

Similarly, equity investors lost N156bn on Monday, bringing the total losses recorded so far in the month to N250bn and worsening the year-to-date loss to 6.5 per cent.

The All Share Index dropped by 0.7 per cent to 29,395.14 basis points while the volume and value of stocks traded increased by 86.8 per cent and 153.7 per cent to N200.687m and N2.887bn, respectively.

The top traded stocks by volume were Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (24.43 million units), United Bank for Africa Plc (23.35 million units), Lafarge Africa Plc (22.73 million units), Zenith Bank Plc (22.34 million units) and FBN Holdings Plc (18.52 million units).

The top traded stocks by value were GTB (N742.15m), Zenith Bank (N436.88m), Nestle Nigeria Plc (N358.98m), Lafarge Africa (N284.16m) and Nigerian Breweries Plc (N178.51m).

The industrial sector emerged the lone gainer amid general poor performance by sectors, gaining 0.8 per cent on the back of major gains recorded in Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc and Lafarge Africa.

The consumer goods sector depreciated by 2.1 per cent as a result of the sell-offs witnessed in Nestle, International Breweries and Dangote Sugar Plc.

The oil and gas index gained one per cent, while the banking sector appreciated by 0.9 per cent.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited predicted a mixed performance this week as investors seemed to be taking caution in selecting stocks due to the release of half-year financial statements by companies.

The top five losers were Chams Plc, UACN Property Development Company Plc, C & I Leasing Plc, Oando Plc and Courteville Business Solutions Plc, which saw their share prices shed 9.7 per cent, 9.7 per cent, 9.1 per cent, 8.7 per cent and 8.7 per cent, respectively.

The top five gainers were Cement Company of Northern Nigeria, Academy Press Plc, Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Africa Prudential Plc, whose respective share prices gained 8.1 per cent, 6.9 per cent, 6.9 per cent, three per cent and 2.3 per cent.