Equity market closes bearish, drops 0.7%

The equity market closed on a negative note on Friday due to sell pressure on some highly capitalised stocks.

The market capitalisation recorded represented a decline of 0.7 per cent closing at N26.787 trillion, compared to N26.976 trillion posted on Thursday.

Specifically, the sell pressure was on stocks of BUA Cement, Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Flour Mill, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) and Access Bank Holdings, amongst others.

Accordingly, the All-Share Index declined by 350.53 points, representing a decrease of 0.7 per cent to close at 49,664.07 from 50,014.6 posted the previous day.

Market breath was negative with 19 gainers and 24 losers.

BUA Foods led the gainers with 10 per cent share price appreciation closing at N59.95 per share.

NEM Insurance Company gained 9.98 per cent to close at N4.41 per share, while Courteville Business Solutions rose by 9.8 per cent to close at 56k.

Also, Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 9.48 per cent to close at N1.27 and Multiverse Mining and Exploration went up by 8.44 per cent to close at N2.44 per share.

On the losing side, BUA Cement came depreciated by 9.95 per cent to close at N52.95 per share.

Chams as the next fell by 9.68 per cent to close at 28k per share, while Cutix declined by 8.89 per cent to close at N2.05 per share.

Ellah Lakes was down by 6.98 per cent to close at N4 per share and Unity Bank depreciated by 6.52 per cent to close at 43k per share.

The total volume traded increased to 750.29 million units valued at N2.26 billion exchanged in 4,076 deals.

This was against a total of 266.12 million shares worth N2.26 billion achieved in 4,034 deals on Thursday.

Capital Hotel traded the highest share volume of 478.20 million shares worth N3.35 billion.

E-Tranzact followed, trading 77.57 million shares valued at N176.86 million.

Wapic Insurance sold 37.08 million shares worth N14.94 million, while First Bank Nigeria Holdings Holdings (FBNH) sold 30.53 million shares at N333.24 million.

United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 13.2 million shares valued at N92.68 million

Analysts at Vetiva Securities Ltd. said that “Market closed the week down as declines in large cap names dragged the All-Share index down.

“We expect the market to pick up from Friday’s close amid slight recoveries by some of the week’s losers,” the analysts said.