Nigerian Stock Market Closes Lower on Wednesday

• Nigerian Stock Market Closes Lower on Wednesday

The Nigerian Stock Exchange continued its bearish trend on Wednesday despite listed companies releasing their financial results for the first half of the year.

The All-Share index declined by 0.07 percent from 29,395.14 it closed on Tuesday to 29,375.25 points on Wednesday.

Market capitalisation of listed equities dropped from N12.957 trillion to N12.948 on Wednesday, a decline of N9 billion.

The year-to-date loss rose to 6.54 percent on Wednesday.

The broad negative sentiment was as a result of selloffs, especially within the low-cap stocks. A total of 23 stocks closed in the red, while only 16 closed with gains.

Sectoral break down showed the oil & gas sector and the banking sector declined by 0.7 percent and 0.6 percent, respectively.

While industrial goods and insurance sectors inched higher by 1.7 percent and 0.5 percent, respectively.

11 Plc, the former Mobil Nigeria Plc, led losers’ chart with a decline of N17 to close at N158 a share.

Closely trailed by Dangote Cement with a decline of N2.90 to close at N177.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities said: “Market performance was bearish and we expect this to be sustained in subsequent sessions as investor sentiment stays soft. However, we do not rule out the possibility of some end of the week bargain hunting as investors take advantage of attractive market prices.”

Total shares of 237.71 million valued at N1.98 billion were exchanged in 4,113 transactions.