Stock Market Extends Decline, Investors Lose N31.09bn

Equities listed on the Nigerian Exchange Limited fell for the fifth straight day on Thursday, triggering a N31.09bn loss for investors.

The NGX All-Share index declined by 0.01 per cent at the end of trading on the floor of the exchange, to 39,201.33 basis points from 39.204.52 on Wednesday while the market capitalisation fell to N20.42tn from N20.43tn.

The market activity slowed as trading volume dropped by 1.00 per cent to 350.53 million shares valued at N3.35bn in 3,523 deals from Wednesday’s tally of 354.06 million shares worth N3.20bn traded in 4,095 deals.

Analysing by sector, the NGX Consumer Goods and the NGX Oil and Gas indices rose by 0.14 per cent and 0.55 per cent respectively while the NGX Insurance index lost 1.65 per cent. The Banking and Industrial indices closed flat at the end of trading.

Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was negative as five tickers gained as against 21 losers.