The Nigerian equity market closed negative on Thursday, reversing the previous day’s gains.
The NGX-All Share Index fell to 47,353.22 points from 47,364.46 points, indicating a Year to Date (YtD) return of 10.85 per cent.
Similarly, the market capitalisation declined by 0.02 per cent to N25,52 trillion from N25,53 trillion, making a decrease of N1 billion.
The market turnover rose to N3.89 billion from N2.54 billion recorded the previous day.
The negative performance of the market was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are: Sterling Bank, WAPIC, Royal Exchange Assurance and Transcorp.
The market breadth was positive as 18 stocks advanced against 17 stocks that declined.
Nigeria Insurance led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 0.02 per cent to close at 22k per share.
Cornerstone followed with 0.04 per cent to close at 58k while Veritas Kapital lost 0.01 per cent to close at 21kper share.
Seplat declined by 3.13 per cent to close at N930, while LASACO shed 2.80 per cent to close at N1.04 per share.
On the other hand, UACN drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 10 per cent to close at N12.10 per share.
Royal Exchange Assurance followed with 9.80 per cent to close at N1.12, while Wapic was up by 8.16 per cent to close at 53k per share.
Presco appreciated by 6.40 per cent to close at N133. Also, Multiverse gained 4.55 per cent to close at 23k per share.
The total volume traded increased by 64 per cent to 239.73 million units valued N3.89 billion exchanged in 3,848 deals.
This was against the total volume of 145.83 million units valued N2.54 billion and exchanged in 4,113 deals on Wednesday.
Transactions in the shares of Veritas Kapital topped the volume chart with 30.01 million shares valued N6.3 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 27.73 million shares worth N235.18 million, while First Bank of Nigeria Holdings (FBNH) traded 23.02 million shares valued N272.01 million.
Guaranty Trust Bank of Nigeria Company(GTco) traded 18.24 million shares worth N447.56 million, while Fidelity Bank transacted 16.11 million shares valued N47.76 million.
