Equities market sheds N782bn amid sell-offs

Trading on the Nigerian stock market extended its negative trend on Tuesday, with investors losing N782 billion, marking the third consecutive trading session of losses.

The decline was driven by broad-based profit-taking, with losses recorded across insurance, banking, consumer goods, industrial and technology stocks.

The market capitalisation depreciated by 0.50 per cent to N155.203 trillion from N155.985 trillion recorded in the previous session.

Similarly, the All-Share Index fell by 1,219.93 points, or 0.50 per cent, to close at 241,984.80, compared with 243,204.73 in the previous session.

The market’s Year-to-Date (YtD) return moderated to 55.50 per cent, while market breadth closed negative with 37 losers and 20 gainers.

Leading the losers’ chart, Vitafoam and International Energy Insurance declined by 10 per cent each, closing at N189 and N5.76 per share respectively.

Austinlaz fell by 9.93 per cent, ending the session at N3.90, Sunu Assurances went down by 9.82 per cent, finishing at N3.58 and Sovereign Trust Insurance depreciated by 8.37 per cent, closing at N2.30 per share.

On the other hand, Conoil and Prestige Assurance increased by 9.79 per cent each, settling at N213 and N1.57 per share respectively.

Similarly, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals grew by 9.74 per cent, closing at N8.45, E-Tranzact soared by 9.40 per cent, settling at N16.30 while Cornerstone Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent, finishing at N5.40 per share.

Meanwhile, market activity declined, with total traded volume falling by 28.11 per cent to 535.53 million shares valued at N36.84 billion in 55,123 deals.

Sterling Nigeria emerged as the most traded stock by volume, with 100.90 million shares exchanged, representing 18.84 per cent of the day’s total volume.

UAC of Nigeria led in value terms, recording transactions worth N9.12 billion, which accounted for 24.74 per cent of the total value traded during the session.