Trading on the Nigerian stock market suffered a setback on Wednesday as sell-sentiment dominated operations, leading to the prevalence of the bears at the close of day’s activities.
Profit-taking in the shares of blue-chips like OKOMUOIL, NESTLE, and ARADEL lost 6.9 percent, 2.3 percent and 5.6 percent of their share prices respectively, triggering a 0.25 percent decrease in the market index, NGX All Share Index (ASI) to 98,291.53 points.
Similarly, the market capitalization decreased by 0.25 percent, to close at ₦59.56 trillion, with investors losing ₦148.1 billion due to sell-offs.
But despite the negative outlook, 23 stocks gained, while 23 declined. Among the top gainers were DEAPCAP, UACN, DANGSUGAR, CHAMPION, and DAARCOM losing 10.00 percent, 9.90 percent, 9.69 percent, 9.65 percent, and 9.26 percent of their share price respectively.
On the losing side, CUSTODIAN led the pack, down by 8.98 percent, followed by OKOMUOIL, 6.86 percent, CONHALLPLC, 6.62 percent, ARADEL 5.85 percent, and MCNICHOLS, 4.93 percent.
Sectoral performance was largely positive, with the insurance sector gaining 0.40 percent, consumer goods up 0.46 percent, and oil/gas inching up 0.02 percent. However, the banking and industrial goods sectors saw minor dips of 0.04 percent and 0.03 percent, respectively.
The overall bearish trend dampened trading activity, as the number of deals, volume, and value fell by 19.42 percent, 9.96 percent, and 66.46 percent, respectively. A total of 257.55 million shares were traded across 7,776 deals, amounting to ₦8.99 billion. FIDELITYBK led in trading volume, with 38.2 million units worth ₦559.1 million exchanged in 261 deals, while ARADEL topped the value chart.
