Stock Market Continues Free Fall As Investors Lose N19bn

The bears continued to dominate the local equities market yesterday as the NGX All-Share Index succumbed to a second successive loss, falling by N19 billion.

The All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 35.45 absolute points, representing a dip of 0.07 per cent to close at 49,540.48 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation lost N19 billion to close at N26.721 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Vitafoam Nigeria, UAC of Nigeria (UACN), Dangote Sugar Refinery, Access Holdings, and UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust (UPDCREIT) Plc.

GTI Securities Limited said, “We expect cautious trading to continue pending any significant changes in the economic conditions.”

Also, market breadth closed negative, with 17 losers versus eight gainers. Sovereign Trust Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 3.85 per cent to close at 27 kobo, per share. Cadbury Nigeria followed with a gain 2.69 per cent to close at N13.35, while Courteville Business Solutions rose 2.08 per cent to close at 49 kobo per share.

Zenith Bank went up by 0.77 per cent to close at N19.65, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) appreciated by 0.68 per cent to close at N7.45, per share. On the other hand, UACN led the losers’ chart by 6.82 per cent to close at N10.25 per share, while UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust and Vitafoam Nigeria followed with a decline of 5.88 per cent each to close at N3.20 and N20.00 respectively per share.

UACN Property Development Company (UPDC) lost 5.00 per cent to close at 95 kobo, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance shed 4.84 per cent to close at 59 Kobo per share.

The total volume traded declined 15.1 per cent to 167.608 million shares, worth N1.265 billion, and traded in 3,458 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Courteville Business Solutions topped the activity chart with 38.811 million shares valued at N18.249 million. Access Holdings followed with 28.472 million shares worth N249.362 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 10.819 million shares valued at N36.906 million.

Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) traded 10.685 million shares valued at N11.265 million, while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance transacted 9.221 million shares worth N5.296 million.