The Nigerian Exchange closed bearish on Wednesday, as the equity market shed N208bn in market capitalisation. At the end of the day’s trading session, the market capitalization stood at N59tn. At the same time, the All-Share Index dropped by 343.31 points, representing a 0.35 per cent decline to close at 97,296.57 points.
This downturn marked a one-week loss of 0.95 per cent and a four-week loss of 0.74 per cent. However, the ASI has recorded a year-to-date gain of 30.12 per cent.
In aggregate, 127 equities participated in trading, with 23 gainers and 26 losers. 822.46m shares were traded in 9,385 deals, corresponding to a turnover of N10.29bn. This represents a 49 per cent increase in trading volume and a 28 per cent rise in turnover compared to the previous trading session.
Sunu Assurances Nigeria led the gainers, appreciating by 9.97 per cent to close at N4.19 per share. Guinea Insurance followed with an 8.16 per cent gain to close at 53 kobo, while Conoil and Daar Communications both advanced by 6.56 per cent to close at N276.00 and 65 kobo per share, respectively.
Other gainers included NASCON (+6.23 per cent), closing at N32.40, and Caverton Offshore (+5.56 per cent), which closed at N1.90.
On the losing side, John Holt led with a 10 per cent decline, closing at N9.90 per share. Aradel Holdings Haldane McCall fell by 8.43 per cent to N5.65, and UPDC shed 8.12 per cent to close at N1.47 per share.
Among the NGX indices, the Insurance Index rose by 1.24 per cent for a one-week gain of 4.28 per cent and a year-to-date gain of 54.15 per cent. The Oil and Gas Index appreciated by 1.02 per cent, marking a one-week gain of 1.14 per cent and a year-to-date rise of 135.46 per cent.
The Banking Index climbed by 0.14 per cent for a year-to-date gain of 12.45 per cent, despite a one-week decline of 3.93 per cent. The Premium Index edged up by 0.11 per cent, while the Pension Index increased by 0.05 per cent, reflecting year-to-date gains of 27.36 per cent and 31.6 per cent, respectively.
Haldane McCall recorded the highest trading volume with 374m shares exchanged, followed by Japaul Gold and Ventures with 116m shares. Tantalizers traded 30.7m shares, while United Bank for Africa recorded a volume of 29.4m shares.
On Tuesday, the Nigerian equity market rebounded, as market capitalisation added N8bn to close at N59.2tn. The All-Share Index inched up by 13.61 points or 0.01 per cent to settle at 97,639.88.
