Stock market extends downtrend, posts N31bn loss

Transactions in the Nigerian equity market on Wednesday closed negative, as losing streak extended to four consecutive trading days, following sell-off on some high-valued stocks.

Consequently, the market breadth closed negative, recording 11 gainers against 16 losers.

Meanwhile, the All-Share Index dipped by 58.72 basis points or 0.22 per cent to close at 26,974.38 index points as against 27,033.10 recorded in the previous trading session.

Market capitalisation of equities depreciated by N31bn from N14.083tn the previous day to N14.052tn as market sentiments remained negative.

Meanwhile, a turnover of 228.4 million shares was exchanged in 3,831 deals in the day’s trading.

The premium sub-sector was the most active (measured by turnover volume); with 144.5 million shares exchanged by investors in 1,900 deals.

Volume in the sub-sector was largely driven by activities in the shares of UBA Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.

Also, the banking sub-sector  was boosted by the activities in the shares of Sterling Bank Plc and GTBank Plc, following a turnover of 26.8 million shares in 474 deals.

Further analyses of the day’s trading showed that in percentage terms, Honeywell Flour Mills Plc topped the day’s gainers’ table with 9.38 per cent to close at N1.05 per share while FCMB Plc followed with 9.29 per cent to close at N1.86 per share.

Ekocorp Plc added 5.77 per cent to close at 5.50 per share.

On the flip side, Red Star Express Plc and Vitafoam Nigeria Plc, led the losers with a drop of 9.98 per cent each to close at N3.61 and N4.06 per share respectively.

UPL Plc shed 9.60 per cent to close at N1.13 per share and Chi Plc trailed with 9.38 per cent to close at 29 kobo per share.