Stock market declines by N541bn

The Nigerian stock market closed the week on a negative note on Friday as investors lost N541 billion in market value amid sustained selling pressure.

The market capitalisation, which opened at N162.134 trillion, declined by N541 billion or 0.33 per cent to close at N161.593 trillion.

Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 833.37 points or 0.33 per cent, dropping from 249,710.59 to 248,877.22.

Consequently, the market’s Year-to-Date return erased to 59.93 per cent.

In spite of the negative performance, the market breadth closed positively, recording 29 advancers against 23 decliners.

Champion Breweries and WAPIC led the gainers’ chart by 10 per cent each, settling at N8.80 and N2.20 per share respectively.

Similarly, Honeywell Flour grew by 9.87 per cent, closing at N29.50, Sovereign Trust Insurance advanced by 9.55 per cent, finishing at N1.95 while AXA Mansard gained by 9.26 per cent, ending the session at N11.80 per share.

Conversely, PZ Cussons topped the losers’ chart by 9.94 per cent, finishing at N64.80, ABC Transport followed by 8.06 per cent, settling at N5.70 and Africa Prudential declined by 6.07 per cent, ending the session at N10.05 per share.

Also, Tantalizers dipped by 5.26 per cent, closing at N3.60, and University Press dropped by 5.15 per cent, settling at N4.60 per share.

Trading activity weakened, as total volume declined by 55.90 per cent to 377.66 million shares, valued at N26.87 billion in 32,666 deals.

GTCO led the activity chart, accounting for 41.02 million shares, representing 10.86 per cent of total volume, while its transactions were valued at N4.92 billion, representing 18.32 per cent of the total value traded.