Nigerian stocks again fail to rally, extending their losses for yet another day, as market indices dropped further by 1.6 per cent.
Analysts blame the continuous depression on profit-taking embarked upon by investors. Today’s loss however appears to be the worst in recent days, with the market capitalisation having to shed about $1.2 billion in a single day.
The All-Share Index which opened at 37,343.85 lost 599.39 basis points to close at 36,744.46.
Similarly, the market capitalisation dropped by N198 billion to close at N12.17 trillion against N12.36 trillion achieved on Monday, following huge losses by highly-capitalised stocks.
A breakdown of the price movement chart showed that Nigerian Breweries led the losers’ chart with a loss of N5.56 to close at N155.94 per share.
Lafarge Wapco followed with N5.22 to close at N99.28, while 7UP lost N5 to close at N155 per share.
Forte Oil dropped N3.85 to close at N208.15, while Dangote Cement dipped N3.61 to close at N208.89 per share.
Conversely, International Breweries topped the price gainers’ chart, appreciating by 21k to close at N31.51 per share.
GT Bank grew by 11k to close at N25.31, while Access Bank garnered 10k to close at N8.50 per share.
Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 8k to close at N2.78 and Cutix improved by 7k to close at N1.59 per share.
However, the volume of shares traded increased by 164.01 per cent with a total of 752.77 million shares worth N4.18 billion transacted in 4,997 deals.
This was in contrast to 285.13 million shares valued at N3.29 billion exchanged in 4,306 deals.
The Financial Service sector remained the most traded, accounting for 685.6 million shares worth N2.58 billion in 3,028 deals.
The Insurance Carrier, Brokers and Service sector trailed with 496.79 million shares valued at N251.38 million achieved in 256 deals