Equity market loses N671bn as stock opens October on negative note

For the second trading session in October, the Nigerian equities market maintained its negative note with N671 billion loss on Thursday.

On Wednesday, investors in the stock market section of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) lost N187billion of their investment in the first trading day of the month, driven by profit-taking activities in 32 stocks.

The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 326.40basis points or 0.33 per cent to close at 98,232.39 basis points, with the Year-to-Date returns moderating to +31.4per cent.

The downward trend continued on Thursday as the market recorded N671bn loss on the back of continued portfolio rebalancing by investors.

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The ASI lost 1,167.97 points, representing a decline of 1.19 per cent to close at 97,064.42 points. 

Market capitalisation declined by N671 billion to close at N55.777 trillion.

Investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, closed negative as 23 stocks advanced, while 28 declined.

Seplat Energy emerged the highest price gainer of 10 per cent to close at N4,513.40, per share. 

Livestock Feeds followed with a gain of 9.93 per cent to close at N2.99, while Regency Alliance Insurance rose by 9.76 per cent to close at 90 kobo, per share.Caverton Offshore Support Group increased by 9.63 per cent to close at N2.39, while AXA Mansard Insurance up by 7.82 per cent to close at N5.93, per share.

On the other side, Dangote Cement and McNichols led the losers’ chart with 10 per cent each to close at N478.80 and N1.35 respectively, while Secure Electronic Technology followed with a decline of 7.58 per cent to close at 61 kobo, per share.

The total volume of trades increased by 80.5 per cent to 268.394 million units, valued at N6.759 billion, and exchanged in 8,565 deals.