By Samuel Bankole
Losses posted by Power generating firm, Geregu Plc, GTCO Plc, and Access Corporation on Thursday dragged down Nigeria’s equity market by N57.7 billion at the end of trading for the day.
Consequently, the local bourse ended its four-day gaining streak as the benchmark index shed 0.20 percent to close at 52,821.60 points.
Investors sold down their holding in Gregu Plc, leading to 4.78 percent loss, GTCO was down by 1.47 percent, and Access Holding was also down by 1.35 percent underpinned the market’s weak performance despite gains in other major stocks.
The market cap of equities listed on the NGX decreased to N28.762 trillion from N28.819 trillion as on the previous close.
The total volume traded closed with an exchange of 377.136 million units valued at N9.18 billion traded in 5,879 deals. The market breadth was negative with 22 gainers as against 23 losers.
As a result, the year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 3.06 percent, while market capitalization lost N57.70 billion to close at N28.76 trillion.
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The NGX 30 Index marginally decreased by 0.09 percent to close at 1,909.72 points as against 1,911.42 points at the previous close. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 265.04 million units. Total and Flour Mills were the key gainers, while Unilever and Sterling were the key losers.
Analysis of the day’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 17.16 percent.
A total of 377.14 million shares valued at N9.18 billion were exchanged in 5,879 deals. UBA (+0.57 percent) led the volume chart with 86.17 million units traded, while GEREGU (-4.78 percent) led the value chart with deals worth N3.92 billion.
Market breadth closed negative at a 1.11-to-1 ratio, with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones. CONOIL (-9.92 percent) led nineteen (19) others on the leader’s log, while FTN (+8.77 percent) topped seventeen (17) others on the leader’s table.
Meanwhile, the Overnight (O/N) rate remained unchanged at 11.50 percent, while the Open Repo (OPR) rate increased by 0.13 percent to close at 11.25 percent compared to 11.12 percent on the previous day.
FMDQ Exchange also approved the quotation of SKLD Integrated Services Limited’s N0.25 billion series 4 and N0.56 billion series 5 commercial papers under the company’s N2.00 billion commercial paper issuance programme on its platform.
Moreover, FMDQ Exchange has approved the quotation of United Capital PLC’s ₦2.26 billion series 1 and N7.83 billion series 2 commercial papers under the company’s N100.00 billion commercial paper issuance programme on its platform.
(omayowa@globalfinancialdigest.com; Newsroom: +234 8033 964 138)
