Conoil, Guinness losses wipe N663bn off market cap

The Nigerian stock market closed on a bearish note Wednesday as investors lost N663 billion following heavy sell-offs in Conoil, Guinness Nigeria, Consolidated Hallmark Holdings, Royal Exchange, and 48 other equities.

Market capitalisation dipped by 0.73 per cent, dropping from N90.227 trillion to N89.564 trillion, while the All-Share Index fell by 1,047.16 points to close at 141,566.31 compared to 142,613.47 on Tuesday.

Market breadth was negative with 52 losers against 18 gainers. Conoil and Guinness Nigeria led the losers’ chart with 9.98 per cent declines, closing at N211.10 and N140.20 per share, respectively.

Consolidated Hallmark Holdings shed 9.94 per cent to N4.35, while Royal Exchange fell 9.92 per cent to N2.27. FG142027S1 also tumbled by 36.97 per cent, ending at N75.

On the gainers’ side, Austin Laz rose 10 per cent to N2.64, Champion Breweries advanced 9.97 per cent to N19.74, NCR Nigeria gained 9.77 per cent to N9.55, while Multiverse Mining appreciated 8.82 per cent to N11.10.

Enamelware also climbed 8.64 per cent to N39 per share.

Trading activity slowed, with 721.82 million shares worth N12.94 billion exchanged in 28,745 deals, down from 1.03 billion shares valued at N17.66 billion in 34,352 deals on Tuesday.

Champion Breweries topped the activity chart with 54.5 million shares worth N988.3 million, followed by Universal Insurance with 47.8 million shares valued at N57.3 million.

Royal Exchange recorded 46.2 million shares worth N105.2 million, while Regency Alliance Insurance and AIICO Insurance posted 40.8 million shares (N55.5m) and 39.3 million shares (N156.4m), respectively.