Equities market loses N13bn in 8 days

Depreciation prevalent in the equities market extended to the 8th consecutive session, at the end of trading today, as the All Share Index (ASI) lost 0.15 per cent to close at 25,461.34 points.

Market capitalisation recorded a decline of N13 billion to settle at N8.765 trillion, while the year-to-date losses increased to -11.11 per cent.

Investors’ appetite, remained negative as market breadth closed with 11 gainers paired against 17 losers.

Forte Oil led the declining stocks by 9.74 percent to close at N74.62 per share, this was followed by Livestock Feeds Plc and Total Plc that shed five per cent each to close at 76 kobo and N255.58 per share respectively.

Neimeth Pharmaceuticals and Nascon Allied Industries likewise dropped 4.88 and 4.77 per cent each to close at 78 kobo and N7.19 per share.

On the other hand, Champion Breweries led the gainers chart with an 8.41 per cent appreciation to close at N2.45 per share. Flourmills followed with a five per cent growth to close at N17.85 per share, while Africa Prudential Registrars recorded a gain of 4.91 per cent to close at N2.78 per share.

Unity Bank grew by 3.57 per cent to close at 58 kobo per share and Mobil added 2.63 per cent to close at N195.01 per share.

Market performance as measured by the total volume traded showed an appreciation of eight per cent to 120.9 million units valued at N1.186 billion and transacted in 2,397 deals compared to 112.4 million shares valued at N858.5 million transacted in 2,532 deals on Monday.

Diamond Bank emerged the most traded stock for the day with 18.3 million shares valued at N16.6 million. Access Bank followed with 14.6 million shares worth N80.8 million, while Transcorp traded 13.7 million shares valued at N9.2 million.

Skye Bank was responsible for 10.1 million shares worth N5.1 million and FBN Holdings came fifth, exchanging 7.7 million shares for N23.1 million.