Equities close week in red, record N189 billion loss

The equity market closed on a negative note on Friday due to sell pressure on some highly capitalised stocks.
The market capitalisation recorded represented a decline of 0.7 per cent closing at N26.787 trillion, compared to N26.976 trillion posted on Thursday.
Specifically, the sell pressure was on stocks of BUA Cement, Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Flour Mill, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO) and Access Bank Holdings, amongst others.
Accordingly, the All-Share Index declined by 350.53 points, representing a decrease of 0.7 per cent to close at 49,664.07 from 50,014.6 posted the previous day.
Market breadth was negative with 19 gainers and 24 losers.
BUA Foods led the gainers with 10 per cent share price appreciation closing at N59.95 per share.
NEM Insurance Company gained 9.98 per cent to close at N4.41 per share, while Courteville Business Solutions rose by 9.8 per cent to close at 56k.
Also, Ikeja Hotel appreciated by 9.48 per cent to close at N1.27 and Multiverse Mining and Exploration went up by 8.44 per cent to close at N2.44 per share.
On the losing side, BUA Cement came depreciated by 9.95 per cent to close at N52.95 per share.
Chams fell by 9.68 per cent to close at 28k per share, while Cutix declined by 8.89 per cent to close at N2.05 per share.
Ellah Lakes was down by 6.98 per cent to close at N4 per share and Unity Bank depreciated by 6.52 per cent to close at 43k per share.
The total volume traded increased to 750.29 million units valued at N2.26 billion exchanged in 4,076 deals.
This was against a total of 266.12 million shares worth N2.26 billion achieved in 4,034 deals on Thursday.
Capital Hotel traded the highest share volume of 478.20 million shares worth N3.35 billion.
E-Tranzact followed, trading 77.57 million shares valued at N176.86 million.
Wapic Insurance sold 37.08 million shares worth N14.94 million, while First Bank Nigeria Holdings Holdings (FBNH) sold 30.53 million shares at N333.24 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 13.2 million shares valued at N92.68 million
Analysts at Vetiva Securities Ltd. said that “Market closed the week down as declines in large cap names dragged the All-Share index down.
“We expect the market to pick up from Friday’s close amid slight recoveries by some of the week’s losers,” the analysts said.
(NAN)
We have recently deactivated our website's comment provider in favour of other channels of distribution and commentary. We encourage you to join the conversation on our stories via our Facebook, Twitter and other social media pages.
More from Peoples Gazette

Agriculture
FG tasks ECOWAS on leveraging financing strategies for agroecology
The federal government has urged stakeholders in the agriculture and finance sectors in the West Africa region to leverage financing strategies to enhance agroecology practices

Politics
Katsina youths pledge to deliver over 2 million votes to Atiku
“Katsina State is Atiku’s political base because it is his second home.”

Education
52 inmates sit NECO exams in Kano custodial centres
Fifty-two inmates have commenced sitting NECO and the National Board for Arabic and Islamic Studies examinations in Nigerian Correctional Service custodial centres in Kano.

Rights
Dismissed Ojukwu varsity lecturer given one-month ultimatum to appeal
The management of the Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University, Igbariam, in Anambra, has given the sacked staff one month to appeal the decision against them.

States
Gas dealers in Plateau decry low patronage amidst price hike
Cooking gas dealers in Pankshin, Plateau, are struggling with low patronage amid the current price hike.

Abuja
Court orders police to pay N200 million for extrajudicial killing of Abuja cleric
The Federal High Court, Abuja Division, has awarded N200 million against the police over the unlawful killing of Kabiru Babai.

Abuja
Tinubu govt says N40 billion pension arrears cleared
The federal government has cleared N39.6 billion in longstanding pension arrears, bringing relief to thousands of retirees under the defined benefit scheme.

Economy
China unveils humanoid companion robots designed for social interaction
A Chinese technology company has launched a new range of full-size, hyper-realistic humanoid robots called “emotional companions”.






