The Nigerian equities market closed lower on Wednesday, reversing some of the gains of yesterday’s session as the benchmark index lost 0.07 per cent to close at 68,334.68 basis points.
At the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the bearish trade was as a result of investors booking profits in Dangote Sugar, Guaranty Trust Holding Company, Nascon and United Bank for Africa shares leading to 4.79 per cent, 1.77 per cent, 0.41 per cent and 0.33 per cent respectively, decline in their value.
As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns moderated to +2.6 per cent and +33.2 per cent, respectively
Equities investors, therefore lost N26.49 billion from their cumulative investments as market capitalization settled at N37.37 trillion.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was, however, positive, as 32 tickers gained relative to 20 losers.
On the performance board, Guinea Insurance and Beta Glass topped the gainers’ list having appreciated in share value by 10.0 per cent and 9.9 per cent, respectively, while conversely Vitafoam and Veritas Kapital recorded the most significant losses of the day having dipped in share value by 10.0 per cent and 7.7 per cent, respectively.
However, sectoral performance remained positive as three of the five sub-gauges closed in the green: the NGX Banking, NGX Insurance, and NGX Oil/Gas indexes rose by 0.27 per cent, 0.43 per cent, and 0.17 per cent, respectively.
On the flip side, the NGX Consumer Goods index declined by 0.82 per cent, while the NGX Oil/Gas index remained unchanged.
Analysis of market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 46.30 per cent.
A total of 378.65 million shares valued at N5.48 billion were exchanged in 7,671 deals. Oando led the volume chart with 83.53 million units traded while Dangote Cement led the value chart in deals worth N708.71 million.
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