Stock Market Records N4bn Loss

At the close of trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the domestic equities market posted a loss of N4 billion market capitalisation while year to date loss settled at -4.6 per cent.

The All-Share Index fell marginally by 3bps to settle at 25,597.96 points due to price declines in FBNH (-2.0%), Seplat (-1.3%) and Dangote Sugar (-1.2%).

Activity level waned as volume and value traded decreased 4.6percent and 9.3percent respectively to 245.1 million units and ₦3.0bn.

The most traded stocks by volume were FBNH (51.4m units), GTB (46.3m units) and Zenith (18.8m units) while GTB (₦1.2bn), Stanbic (₦630.0m) and Zenith (₦322.4m) led by value.

Sector performance was mixed albeit negatively skewed as 3 of the 6 indices under review closed southward.

The Oil & Gas and Banking indices led laggards, down 1.2% and 0.2% respectively following sell-offs in Seplat (-1.3%), Oando (-5.5%), FBNH (-2.0%) and UBA (-0.8%).

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth fell to 0.9x from the 1.1x recorded previously as 13 stocks gained against the 15 that lost.