The bears continued to dominate the domestic equities market yesterday as the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) extended losses for a second consecutive session, falling by 0.09 per cent.
Specifically, a total of 2.50 billion shares of Geregu Power Plc were listed by introduction on the Nigerian Exchange yesterday at N100.00 per share, making the stock the 15th largest on the index by market capitalisation.
The All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 43.04 absolute points, representing a dip of 0.09 per cent to close at 48,836.70 points.
However, the market capitalisation gained N227 billion to close at N26.600 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Cadbury Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Northern Nigeria Flour Mills (NNFM) and Guaranty Trust Holding Company.
The market breadth closed negative, with 22 losers versus 13 gainers.
Geregu Power Plc recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent to close at N110.00, per share. Multiverse Mining and Exploration followed with a gain 9.88 per cent to close at N4.45, while Red Star Express rose 9.43 per cent to close at N2.32, per share.
Sovereign Trust Insurance went up by 8.00 per cent to close at 27 kobo, while Japaul Gold & Ventures appreciated by 7.69 per cent to close at 28 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Cadbury Nigeria led the losers’ chart by 9.93 per cent to close at N12.25, per share.
NNFM followed with a decline of 9.33 per cent to close at N6.80, while PZ Cussons Nigeria declined by 9.19 per cent to close at N8.40, per share.
Cornerstone Insurance lost 8.93 per cent to close at 51 kobo, while Unity Bank shed 6.82 per cent to close at 41 kobo, per share.
Meanwhile, the total volume traded declined by 21.9 per cent to 135.523 million units, valued at N2.22 billion, and exchanged in 4,041 deals. Transactions in the shares of Chams topped the activity chart with 25.497 million shares valued at N1.362 million. Guaranty Trust Holding Company followed with 19.465 million shares worth N341.013 million, while Sterling Bank traded 9.944 million shares valued at N42.610 million.
Geregu Power traded 8.500 million shares valued at N275 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) transacted 7.155 million shares worth N42.174 million.