Nigerian Stock Market Sheds N150b on Wednesday

• Nigerian Stock Market Sheds N150b on Wednesday

More losses recorded on the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday as the market resumed bearish trend despite positive first-half results.

Since closing at N13.508 trillion on July 31, market capitalisation has dropped to N13.358 trillion as of August 7.

Sustained sell pressures also weighed on the benchmark index, the NSE All-Share Index declined by 42 basis points to settle at 27,412.13 basis points. Pushing the year-to-date loss to 12.8 percent.

Activity level was low as volume traded fell by 24.4 percent to 128.956 million units while value traded declined by 47.8 percent to N1.182 billion.

“The top traded stocks by volume were FBN Holdings Plc (30.9 million units), Transnational Corporation Plc (16 million units) and FCMB Group Plc (11 million units), while MTN Nigeria Communications Plc (N390.8m), FBN Holdings (N162.1m) and Zenith Bank (N148.6m) were the top traded stocks by value.

“Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth (advance/decline ratio), strengthened to 0.7x from 0.3x recorded on Tuesday as 11 stocks gained against 17 stocks that lost.

“The top gainers were Aiico Insurance Plc with a 9.38 per cent price appreciation, Conoil with 6.33 per cent gain, Lasaco Assurance Plc whose share price increased by 5.88 per cent, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc with a 5.26 per cent gain and Eterna Plc, which saw its share price appreciate by 1.85 per cent.”