Investors in the Nigerian stock market experienced a significant setback on Thursday, with a loss of N35 billion in market value. The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) market capitalization decreased by 0.05%, dropping from N65.789 trillion on Wednesday to N65.754 trillion. The All-Share Index also followed suit, declining by 0.05% or 56.36 points, closing at 104,858.77 points, compared to the previous day’s 104,915.13 points. The downturn was driven by persistent sell-off pressure in major stocks.
A number of major stocks, including Unilever, Accesscorp, and Afriprud, contributed to the overall negative performance, with market breadth closing on a negative note. A total of 28 stocks closed lower, while only 14 recorded gains. Notably, Livestock Feeds saw a significant drop of 9.57%, closing at N7.65, and Royal Exchange lost 8.24%, closing at 78k. Custodian Investment Trust and UPDC Real Estate also experienced declines of 6.98% and 6.23%, respectively.
Despite the overall downturn, a few stocks made impressive gains. Computer Warehouse Group (CWG) saw a 9.64% increase, closing at N9.10, while Veritas Kapital Assurance rose by 8.41%, ending at N1.16. Other gainers included Deap Capital Management and WAPIC Insurance, which gained 7.61% and 4.26%, respectively. Wema Bank also rose by 2.37%, closing at N10.80 per share.
The trading volume on the day totaled 310.53 million shares worth N6.247 billion, spread across 10,182 transactions. This was significantly lower than the previous day’s trading, which saw 1.37 billion shares valued at N12.375 billion. Fidelity Bank topped the activity chart with 40 million shares worth N672 million, followed by Veritas Kapital Assurance and Nigerian Breweries.
source: daily post