NGX Investors Hit Second Day of Bearish Run as Market Capitalisation Declined by N729 Billion

The Nigerian Stock Exchange investors suffered another loss following investors' role in profit-taking in a two-day decline. At the close of yesterday's trading session, market capitalisation was down by N729 billion, totalling the two-day loss to N2.55 trillion. The previous day, they recorded a decline of N1.82 trillion as investors chose to take profits in Dangote Cement Plc, MTN Nigeria Communication Plc, and 35 others.

Experts said that this practice is mainly seen when dividend payments are coming up as investors choose to secure their portfolios.

READ ALSO: NGX Market Capitalisation Goes Down as Investors Chose Profit-Taking

On Tuesday, the NGX closed on a negative trend following losses in BUA Cement Plc and 42 others, pushing the overall market capitalization down by N729 billion. Market capitalisation closed yesterday at N55.299 trillion, dropping N2.55 trillion or 4.4%, from the N57.850 trillion it opened for trading this week. 

In two days, the Nigerian Exchange Limited All-Share Index (NGX ASI) declined by 4,662.11 basis points, or 4.4%, closing at 101,060.67 basis points from 105,722.78 basis points. It opened for trading this week.

As reported, the NGX month-to-date and year-to-date returns settled at -0.1% and +35.2%, respectively.

In Tuesday's trading session on the NGX, investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth, closed negative as eight stocks gained and 43 equities declined. 

Top Gainers: Juli led the top gainers chart with 9.94% to close at N1.77 per share. Eterna followed with a gain of 6.17% to close at N17.20, while Veritas Kapital Assurance increased by 5.97% to close at 71 kobo per share. Geregu Power followed with 3.68% to close at N985.00, while Tantalizers rose by 2.63% to close at 39 kobo per share. 

Top Losers: Honeywell Flour Mills led the losers' chart with 10% to close at N3.60 per share. BUA Cement followed with a decline of 9.98% to close at N142.95, while PZ Cussons Nigeria followed with a drop of 9.72% to close at N27.30 per share. UPDC Real Estate Investment Trust declined by 9.32% to close at N5.35, while NEM Insurance declined by 8.63% to close at N6.35 per share.

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The total volume of trades decreased by 6.46% to 256.157 million units, valued at N6.629 billion, and exchanged in 8,783 deals. Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporations (Transcorp) led the activity with 39.746 million shares worth N528.451 million. 

United Bank for Africa (UBA) followed with 26.026 million shares valued at N624.495 million, while Fidelity Bank traded 25.477 million shares valued at N270.479 million.

Zenith Bank traded 21.010 million shares worth N750.540 million, while Guaranty Trust Holding Company traded 13.798 million shares worth N535.512 million.