The Nigerian equity market sustained its downward trend for the second consecutive day this week, witnessing a loss of N730bn on Tuesday.
The market had suffered a setback on Monday, with Dangote Cement and MTN Nigeria contributing to a total loss of N1.82tn.
Tuesday saw further declines as the benchmark index, the All-Share Index, and the market capitalization dropped by 1.30 per cent to 101,060.67 points and N55.298tn, respectively.
The market’s year-to-date return also decreased to 35.16 per cent from 36.94 per cent the previous day.
The downward movement was mainly attributed to sell-offs observed in medium to penny stocks.
By the close of trading, eight equities recorded gains while 43 experienced losses.
Top gainers included stocks of Juli Plc, Eterna Plc, and VeritasKap, which saw increases of 9.94 per cent, 6.17 per cent, and 5.97 per cent, respectively, closing at N1.77, N17.20, and N0.71.
Leading the losers’ chart were Honeywell Flour Mills, down by 10 per cent to N3.60; BUA Cement, shedding 9.98 per cent to close at N142.95; and PZ Cussons, which declined by 9.75 per cent to N27.30, attributed to its negative asset value in the half-year report.
Trading activity also declined significantly, with total deals falling by 9.34 per cent to 8,783 trades. Total volume and value were down by 6.46 per cent and 10.90 per cent, amounting to 256.16 million units and N6.63bn, respectively.
The number of stocks traded closed at 118.
In line with the market trend, four out of the five sectoral sub-indexes closed in the red zone. The Oil & Gas sector was the sole gainer, driven by Eterna Plc.
United Bank for Africa, Geregu Power, and Transcorp Plc were the volume and value drivers of the day’s market trend, with Transcorp being the most traded security in terms of volume, exchanging 39.75 million units in 640 trades, while Geregu Power led in terms of value, amounting to N1.11bn.
