Stock Market Exit March With N10bn Loss

Activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Tuesday ended the month of March on the negative rout as investors remained on the sideline following widespread of CONDIV-19 which has led to restriction of movement in major business centres in Nigeria.

The market performance indices, NSE ASI, dropped by 0.14 per cent as market breath closed negative with nine gainers and 11 losers.

Consequently, the All-Share Index dropped by 30.32 basis points or 0.14 per cent from 21,330.79 index points the previous day to 21,300.47 while the market capitalisation of equities depreciated by N16bn to close at N11.1tn from N11.11tn.

On the activity chart, banking subsector dominated in volume terms with 328 million shares exchanged in 756 deals. The subsector was enhanced by the activities in the shares of Sterling Bank Plc and GTBank Plc.

Premium subsector boosted by the activities on the shares of Zenith Bank Plc and UBA Plc followed with 63 million units traded in 1,519 deals.

In all, investors exchanged a total of 422 million shares in 3,448 deals.

Further analysis of the day’s trading showed that GSK Nigeria Plc led the gainers chart with 10 per cent to close at N4.40 per share while May and Baker Plc followed with 9.74 per cent to close at N2.14 per share and NEM Insurance Plc with a gain of 9.52 per cent to close at N2.07 per share.

On the flip side, Jaiz Bank Plc led the losers’ chart with a drop of 9.43 per cent to close at 48 kobo per share. Ikeja Hotel Plc followed with a loss of 9.09 per cent to close at 90 kobo per share while Courtville Business Solution Plc dropped by 4.76 per cent to close at 20 kobo per share.