Nigerian stocks shed N449bn on selling pressure

Stocks shed N449bn on selling pressure

The equities segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange witnessed a weak bargain on Wednesday as investors continued to be driven by selling pressure.

At the close of trading, the market capitalisation of the listed equities had declined by N449bn to close at N10.318tn, virtually mirroring its performance a day earlier when equities value fell by N471bn as highly capitalised stocks suffered significant losses.

The NSE All-Share Index was also down by 1,354.77 basis points or 4.17 per cent to close at 31,167.54 basis points, compared with the 4.19 per cent depreciation it recorded a day earlier to close at 32,522.31 basis points.

It has been three negative trading sessions for the Exchange so far this year, a development, which means the NSE ASI year-to-date return now stands at -10.07 per cent.

Apart from the NSE Alternative Securities Market Index, which closed flat at 1,213.36 basis points, and the NSE Insurance Index that rose marginally by 0.29 per cent, all other indicators closed lower on Wednesday.

The NSE banking sub-sector led the activity chart, accounting for 67.27 per cent of the 393.369 million shares worth N5.462bn traded in 3,930 deals on Wednesday.

In the sub-sector, investors exchanged 256.756 million shares valued at N3.517bn in 1,201 deals.

Volume in the sub-sector was driven by trading in the shares of Ecobank Transnational Incorporated Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and Diamond Bank Plc.

Only eight stocks, led by Presco Plc – which gained 10.19 per cent or N2.54 to close at N27.47 per share, recorded share price appreciation on Wednesday, while 41 other recorded price depreciation.

The losers were led by Guinness Nigeria Plc, which was down by 9.74 per cent or N15.30 to close at N141.74 per share.

Zenith Bank Plc fell by 9.71 per cent or N1.66 to close at N15.44 per share, while Guaranty Trust Bank and Diamond Bank Plc shed 9.70 per cent and 9.46 per cent to close at N21.96 per share and N4.69 per share, respectively.

FCMB Group Plc and FBN Holdings Plc were also down by 9.39 per cent and 5.90 per cent to close at N2.22 and N7.81 per share in that order.