Equities reverse gain as investors lose N40bn

Equities reverse gain as investors lose N40bn

Equities trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday closed on the negative route to upturn previous day’s gain as bears regained grip following sell-off witnessed on blue chip firms.

However, the local bourse recorded 22 gainers against 20 losers to close the trading session on positive breadth amidst the bearish outlook.

Consequently, the All- Share Index (ASI) dipped 77.32 basis points or 0.19 per cent to close at 40,494.35 index points as against 40,571.67 recorded the previous trading session while market capitalisation of equities depreciated by N40 billion from N21.224 trillion the previous day to N21.184 trillion as market sentiment returned on the negative territory.

Meanwhile, a turnover of 356.43 million shares exchanged in 5,040 deals was recorded in the day’s trading. The premium sub-sector was the most active (measured by turnover volume); with 88.62 million shares exchanged by investors in 1,583 deals.

Volume in the subsector was largely driven by activities in shares of FBNH Plc and Zenith Bank Plc. Also, the banking subsector boosted by activities in shares of GTBank Plc and Fidelity Bank Plc followed with a turnover of 72.08 million shares in 779 deals.

Further analysis of the day’s trading showed that in percentage terms, Learn Africa Plc topped the day’s gainers’ table by 9.28 per cent to close at N1.06 per share while ARDOVA Plc followed with 9.06 per cent to close at N18.05 per share.

Multiverse Nigeria Plc added 8.33 per cent to close at 26 kobo per share. On the flip side, Cornerstone Insurance Plc and UPDCREIT Plc led the losers by 10 per cent each to close at54 kobo and N5.40 per share respectively while CHI Plc shed 9.52 per cent to close at 38 kobo per share.

Prestige Assurance Plc trailed with 8.51 per cent to close at 43 kobo per share.