Equities Shed N54bn As Insurance Stocks Lead Losers

The Nigerian stock market on Wednesday halted its bullish run to close negative as equities investors lost N54bn.

A total of 651.901 million shares valued at N7.764bn exchanged hands in 7,091 deals.

Lasaco Assurance Plc declined by 8.7 per cent to emerge as the worst performing stocks for the day, to close at N0.42. It was trailed by Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc, UNIC Diversified Holdings Plc, Transnational Corporation Plc and UACN Property Development Company Plc, which slid respectively by 8.33 per cent, eight per cent, 5.28 per cent and five per cent.

The market shed 0.34 per cent to settle the year-to-date return at 15.95 per cent. The total volume traded dipped by 25.66 per cent while the value of transactions advanced by 4.49 per cent. Twenty-five stocks gained while 31 dipped.

Flour Mills Nigeria Plc emerged as the best performing counter for the day after gaining 10.05 per cent, to close at N33.95.

Following on the gainers’ list were Wema Bank Plc, Livestock Feeds Plc, Wapic Insurance Plc and Unity Bank Plc, which appreciated by 9.70 per cent, 8.93 per cent, 8.70 per cent and 5.56 per cent, accordingly.

The NSE industrial goods and the NSE oil/gas indices advanced by 1.87 per cent and 0.33 per cent, respectively, while the NSE food/beverages , the NSE insurance, the NSE banking indices recorded respective declines of 1.10 per cent, 0.34 per cent and 0.21 per cent.

“The bourse closed in the red as trickles of profit taking activities were seen on most counters; notably in the consumer goods and banking space. Despite the loss recorded today, we envisage a positive week-on-week close,” analysts at Meristem Securities said in a post.