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Chinwendu Obienyi
Nigeria’s equity market began the week on a bearish note, as the benchmark index pared by 0.60 per cent to 26,691.09 points – the largest decline since October 9, 2019 – driven by losses in the banking stocks.
Consequently, the month-to-date (MtD) return moderated to +1.27 per cent, as year-to-date (YtD) loss increased to -15.08 per cent, while investors lost N185 billion with market capitalisation closing yesterday’s trading at N12.882 trillion.
This was as total volume of trades decreased by 34.5 per cent to 307.96 million units, valued at N2.54 billion and exchanged in 4,609 deals. Significant loss in the Banking (-2.00 per cent) index, outweighed marginal gains recorded in the Consumer Goods (+0.42 per cent), Industrial Goods (+0.03 per cent), and Insurance (+0.01 per cent) indices with the Oil & Gas index closing flat.
However, market breadth remained positive as 16 stocks appreciated in value while 14 others depreciated. Neimeth topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at 0.44 kobo per share, Jaiz Bank followed with a gain of 9.86 per cent to close at 0.78 kobo, Ikeja Hotel increased by 9.47 per cent to close at N1.04, Custodian advanced with 9.09 per cent to close at N6 while Courtville garnered 8.70 per cent to close at 0.25 kobo.
On the otherhand, Wema Bank topped the losers’ chart with 7.89 per cent to close at 0.70 kobo per share. FCMB was next with 7.50 per cent to close at N1.85, Caverton dropped 7.41 per cent to close at N2.50, Access Bank lost 6.67 per cent to close at N9.80 while ETI fell by 6.67 per cent to close at N7.
UACN was the most traded stock by volume and by value at 102.55 million units and N636.15 million respectively. Zenith Bank transacted 29.54 million units valued at N555.83 million while UBA sold 20.80 million units worth N147.44 million.
