BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
Investors in the Nigerian equities market counted their losses at the close of market transactions on Thursday as the All- Share Index dropped by 0.13 percent to close at 48,365.14 points.
The value of investment in the market dropped by N33.42 billion due to sell-offs in highly capitalized stocks like MTN Nigeria among others, forcing the market capitalization to close at N26.34 trillion.
Thursday’s trading session ended the market’s four-day winning streak.
Sell-offs in telco heavyweight, MTN Nigeria reduced its market value by (-2.27%) while GTCO’s share value also dropped by (-0.48%), and WAPCO (-0.46%) underpinned the market’s weak performance despite gains in BUACEMENT (+2.44%), ZENITHBANK (+0.23%) and UBA (+0.69%).
Consequently, the market’s year-to-date return fell to 13.22 percent, while market capitalization lost N33.42bn to close at N26.34trn.
Analysis of Thursday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 11.20 percent.
Meanwhile, a total of 148.16m units of shares valued at N2.98bn were exchanged in 3,391 deals. ETI (+2.86%), led the volume chart with 26.36m units traded, while MTNN (-2.27%) led the value chart in deals worth N1.19bn.
Market breadth closed positive at a 1.75-to-1 ratio with advancing issues outnumbering declining ones. CHAMS (+9.09%) led 13 others on the leader’s table, while HONYFLOUR (-9.09%) topped seven others on the laggard’s log.
