Stock market extends bearish run as investors lose N758bn

The Nigerian stock market closed Wednesday’s trading session on a negative note, extending its bearish streak to four consecutive sessions and leaving investors with a loss of N758 billion.

Profit-taking in large- and mid-capitalised stocks, including Geregu, Okomu Oil, Red Star Express, Consolidated Hallmark Holdings, International Energy Insurance, and 46 other equities, dragged the market into negative territory.

Market capitalisation declined by N758 billion, or 0.49 per cent, to N154.445 trillion from N155.203 trillion recorded on Tuesday.

The All-Share Index (ASI) shed 1,182.08 points, representing a 0.49 per cent decline, to close at 240,802.72, compared with 241,984.80 in the previous session.

This weakened the market’s Year-to-Date (YTD) return to 54.74 per cent, while the market breadth closed negatively with 51 losers against 13 gainers.

The losers’ chart was led by Geregu, dropping by 10 per cent, closing at N1,019.30, Okomu Oil trailed by 9.97 per cent, finishing at N1,418, while Red Star Express shed by 9.95 per cent, ending the session at N27.60 per share.

Consolidated Hallmark declined by 9.91 per cent, settling at N7.82, and International Energy Insurance dipped by 9.90 per cent, closing at N5.19 per share.

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Conversely, Neimeth Pharmaceuticals led the gainers’ chart by 9.47 per cent, settling at N9.25, Cornerstone Insurance followed by 9.26 per cent, ending the session at N5.90, while VFD Group grew by 7.96 per cent, finishing at N10.85 per share.

Mc Nichols increased by 7.14 per cent, closing at N7.50, and Sunu Assurances soared by 3.91 per cent, settling at N3.72 per share.

Market activity improved during the trading session, with total volume traded rising by 23.79 per cent to 662.96 million shares valued at N39.98 billion across 51,143 transactions.

Access Corporation emerged as the most traded stock by volume, with 130.26 million shares exchanged, representing 19.65 per cent of the total volume traded.

MTN Nigeria led the value chart, recording transactions worth N8.19 billion, which accounted for 20.48 per cent of the day’s total market value.