Nigerian equity market investors lose N159bn

Investors in the Nigerian equity market saw the value of their assets dip as the market capitalisation dropped by N159 billion to close at N28.562 trillion on Friday compared with N28.721 trillion achieved on Thursday.

In the same vein, the All-Share Index lost 295.53 points or 0.55 per cent to close at 52,979.96 points against 53,275.49 on Thursday.

Hence, the Year-to-Date (YTD) performance of the index decreased to 24.03 per cent.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Royal Exchange Assurance, Academy Press, among others.

However, the market closed with 28 gainers relative to 25 losers.

Neimeth Pharmaceuticals dominated the gainers’ chart in percentage terms appreciating by 10 per cent to close at N1.76 per share.

Conoil Plc came second with 9.88 per cent to close at N31.15, while McNichols Consolidated Plc rose by 9.79 per cent to close at N2.13 per share.

Cutix Plc rose by 9.77 per cent to close at N2.92, while NEM Insurance rose by 9.75 per cent to close at N4.39 per share.

Conversely, Learn Africa led the losers’ chart in percentage terms losing 10 per cent to close at N2.25 per share.

GSPEC Plc trailed with a loss of 9.79 per cent to close at N3.41 while Academy Press dipped 9.56 per cent to close at N1.23 per share.

Royal Exchange Assurance lost 9.52 per cent to close at N1.14 while FTNCocoa shed 8.57 per cent to close at 32k per share.

Transactions in the shares of Jaiz Bank topped the activity chart with 142.36 million shares valued at N126.87 million.

Chi Plc followed with 100.06 million shares worth N60.06 million, while Transcorp traded 21.34 million shares valued at N27.83 million.

Abbey Buildings sold 13.88 million shares worth N22.23 million, while United Bank for Africa(UBA) transacted 11.11 million shares worth N87.99 million.

In all, the total volume of shares declined by 59.01 per cent with an exchange of 436.58 million shares valued at N3.22 billion traded in 4,716 deals.

This was in contrast with 274.57 million shares worth N8.45 billion traded in 5,184 deals on Thursday. (NAN)