Stock market value drops to N150.8trn as five companies lead top losers
By Aboki Forex —
The Nigerian stock market crashed by 2.35% on Wednesday. Heavy sell-offs in major stocks erased market value. The decline was driven by profit-taking in industrial goods, banking, insurance, consumer goods, and oil and gas stocks.
BUA Cement, Dangote Cement, and Geregu Power were among the biggest losers. Each dropped by 10.00% to close at N340.20, N963.00, and N917.40, respectively. Custodian Investment fell by 9.97% to N73.15. Academy Press declined by 9.88% to N28.12.
At the close of trading, the market recorded 10 gainers and 21 losers. Bearish sentiment dominated the session.
The NGX All-Share Index dropped by 5,668.65 points to 235,074.54 points from 240,743.19 points. Market capitalisation declined by N3.637 trillion to N150.847 trillion from N154.484 trillion.
Trading activity weakened. 488.1 million shares worth N20.9 billion were exchanged in 46,239 deals. This compared with 564.9 million shares valued at N39.4 billion traded in 42,930 deals on Tuesday. Volume fell by 13.60%, value dropped by 46.95%, and the number of deals declined by 6.08%.
All major sectors closed in negative territory. The NGX Industrial Goods Index recorded the biggest decline, dropping by 8.31% due to losses in cement stocks. The Insurance Index fell by 0.97%. The Banking Index declined by 0.71%. The Consumer Goods Index shed 0.29%. The Oil and Gas Index weakened by 0.11%.
On the gainers side, SAHCO gained 9.92% to close at N171.20. International Energy Insurance rose by 9.66% to N6.70. Tantalizers increased by 6.98% to N4.60. Omatek added 5.70% to settle at N2.04. AIICO Insurance advanced by 5.19% to N4.26.
First Holdco led trading activity with 57.4 million shares valued at N3.5 billion.