Stock market sheds N1.67trn

The equities market closed bearish on Wednesday, extending its losses and eroding investors wealth by N1.672 trillion.
 

Selloffs in stocks such as FTN Cocoa Processors, Japaul Gold, Mc Nicholas, Omatek Ventures, Secure Electronic Technology and 39 others dragged the market into negative territory.
 
As a result, market capitalisation declined by 1.05 per cent, or N1.672 trllion, from N158.721 trillion at the opening to N157.049 trillion at the close.
 
Similarly, the All-Share Index fell by 2,579.01 points, or 1.05 per cent, from 244,802.11 to 242,223.10.
 
Consequently, the market’s Year-to-Date return erased to 55.66 per cent.
 
The market breadth also closed negatively, recording 44 losers and 11 gainers.
 
On the losers’ chart, FTN Cocoa Processors, Mc Nicholas, Japaul Gold, Omatek Ventures and Secure Electronic Technology led by 10 per cent each, ending the session at N7.65, N4.50, N2.34, N1.35 and 63k per share respectively.
 
Conversely, Champion Breweries led the gainers’ chart by 9.90 per cent, finishing at N11.10, VFD Group trailed by 9.52 per cent, settling at N11.50 while UPDC climbed by 5.88 per cent, closing at N3.60 per share.
 
Also, Ikeja Hotel gained by 4.58 per cent, settling at N44.50 and Cutix increased by 3.06 per cent, closing at N2.36 per share.
 
Trading activity on the Nigerian Exchange Ltd. (NGX) weakened during the session, with total volume falling by 29.04 per cent to 534.45 million shares.
 
The transactions were valued at N22.28 billion and executed in 46,943 deals.
 
Sterling Nigeria led trading volume with 78.11 million shares, representing 14.61 per cent of total volume.
 
Nestle Nigeria dominated value traded, with transactions worth N3.20 billion, accounting for 14.38 per cent of the day’s total value.