Nigeria’s stock market woes persist as investors lose N9.14bn

The stock market witnessed another bearish trend for the third consecutive trading sessions this week, as it lost N9.14 billion to close its equity capitalization at N14.348 trillion, indicating a 0.06% decline.

Also, the major market indicator, the all-share index dipped by 0.09% to close at 27,523.08 index points. The decline recorded in the value of medium capitalized stocks such as GTBank, Forte Oil, Custodian Investment, Dangote Sugar and Mansard Insurance influenced the negative performance of the bourse’s indicators on Wednesday.

United Capital emerged the best performing stock as it gained by 9.9% to close at N3.22. This came after the company released its 2019 full-year financial statement, posting N4.97 billion profit after tax and declared dividend payment of 50 kobo per 50 kobo ordinary share held by shareholders.

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African Prudential Plc followed the ranks of gainers having rose by 9.87% to close at N5.12 and AIICO Insurance gained 9.76% to close at N0.9. C & I Leasing also recorded positive growth in the value of its stock as it gained 9.48% to close at N6.35 while Unity Bank Plc rounded off the list with 9.26% gain to close at N0.59.

On the decliners list, AXA Mansard Insurance shed 10% to close at N1.8 followed by Forte Oil Plc, which dipped 9.97% to close at N16.7. Custodian Investment Plc recorded 9.92% loss to close at N5.45 as NCR Plc recorded a decline of 9.4% to close at N2.7 while Law Union Insurance Plc rounded off the list with 9.09% to close at N0.9.

GTBank attracted the highest trades in terms of volume of stocks traded on Wednesday, recording trades in 79.35 million units of shares valued at N2.26 billion across 233 deals. GT bank accounted for 44.99% of the total value of stocks traded.

Zenith Bank followed with trades in 39.99 million units of shares at N780.85 million across 553 transactions while First Bank Holdings traded in 34.62 million units of shares valued at N199.5 million across 275 deals.

Japaul Oil attracted sales in 16.31 million units of shares at N3.26 million across 30 deals while UBA caped the list with trades in 15.74 million units of shares valued at N120.45 million across 227 deals.