Stock market investors showed waning sentiment in Thursday’s trading session as trading continued its downward trajectory, marking the fourth consecutive session of sell sentiment.
The benchmark index suffered a 0.86 percent decline, closing at 101,227.42 points, with sell-offs dominating the market once again.
Consequently, the market capitalization of listed equities declined by 0.86 percent to N55.39 trillion. Year-to-date returns moderated to 35.4 percent as investors witnessed a collective loss of N480.8 billion, with only 7 gainers against 51 laggards.
Despite the prevailing pessimism, market activities saw an uptick with traded volume increasing by 39.91 percent to 478.38 million units. Total traded value also rose by 11.97 percent to N7.2 billion, accompanied by a 13.37 percent increase in total deals, totaling 10,957 trades.
Across sectors, bearish sentiments were widespread, notably in the Insurance and Banking sectors, which recorded a decline of 4.19 percent and 2.33 percent respectively, driven by adverse price movements in key stocks like CHIPLC, STERLINGNG, PRESTIGE, and ACCESSCORP.
Consumer Goods, Oil & Gas, and Industrial Goods sectors followed suit, declining by 1.90 percent, 0.49 percent, and 0.30 percent respectively, due to sell-offs in NASCON, ETERNA, TRANSCORP, OANDO, and WAPCO.
In terms of individual stocks, MEYER (9.97 percent), JULI (9.52 percent), TANTALIZER (4.76 percent), REDSTAREX (4.05 percent), and LASACO (3.54 percent) attracted increased interest for potential upward pricing, while STERLINGNG (10.00 percent), CHIPLC (10.00 percent), NASCON (10.00 percent), UNITYBNK (10.00 percent), and ETERNA (9.95 percent) experienced adverse price movements.
Closing out the session, UNIVINSURE emerged as the most traded security by volume, with 42.77 million units traded in 107 trades, while ZENITHBANK led in value traded, totaling N1.12 billion in 752 trades.
