Nigerian Stock Exchange Lost N192 Billion as Major Banks Declined

Stocks yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NGX) finished negative as investor's profit-taking in major financial stocks pushed market capitalization down by N192 billion.

Major stocks saw a decrease at the close of yesterday's market. FBN Holdings dropped by 9.86% to close at N26.50 per share, while Access Holdings Plc depreciated by 5.21% to close yesterday at N20 per share.

Also on the list, Jaiz Bank Plc and Unity Bank Plc tumbled by 5.63% and 3.90% to close at N1.51 per share and N1.48 per share, respectively. 

Zenith Bank Plc declined by 2.35% to N35.25 per share as Guaranty Trust Holding Company dipped by 1.76% to close at N39 per share.

FCMB Group and United Bank for Africa (UBA) declined by 0.72% and 0.45% to close at N6.90 and N0.10 per share, respectively.

All-Share Index at Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX ASI) to a loss of 350.72 basis points or 0.49%, to close at 71,457.92 basis points from the 71,808.64 basis points it opened for trading.

The NGX Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns bounced to +0.1% and 39.4%, respectively.

The market capitalization of listed companies declined by N192 billion to close at N39.103 trillion from N39.295 trillion it opened from Wednesday's trading closing.

The NGX Banking dropped by 2%, while the NGX Insurance added 1.8%. The NGX Consumer Goods, Industrial Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.

Market sentiment was negative when measured by market breadth, with 29 stocks declining while 24 gained.  Multiverse Mining and Exploration emerged as the highest price gainer, with 9.91%, to close at N8.54 per share.

Top Gainers: SCOA Nigeria and AXA Mansard Insurance led with a gain of 9.76% each to close at N1.35 and N4.50, respectively, while The Initiates Plc (TIP) and Infinity Trust Mortgage Bank rose by 9.52% each to close at N1.15 and N1.61, respectively, per share.

Top Losers: FBNH led with  9.86% to close at N26.50 per share. Secure Electronic Technology followed with a decline of 9.64% to close at 75 kobo, while Deap Capital Management & Trust shed 9.46% to close at 67 kobo per share. Champion Breweries declined by 7.04% to close at N3.30, while Tantalizers was down by 6.00% to close at 47 kobo per share.

The total volume traded decreased by 36.7% to 436.56 million units, valued at N7.55 billion, and exchanged in 7,096 deals. Transactions in the shares of Universal Insurance led the activity, with 52.725 million shares worth N13.492 million. Veritas Kapital Assurance followed with 44.573 million shares valued at N15.323 million, while Nigerian Breweries traded 37.461 million shares valued at N1.388 billion.

Access Holdings traded 34.651 million shares worth N705.853 million, while Zenith Bank traded 31.620 million shares worth N1.121 billion.