Negative sentiment persists as stocks shed N82 billion

Nigerian stocks were down N82.345 billion or 0.40 per cent on Thursday as speculators continued profit-taking efforts after that saw Presco, the five big banks and Enamelware drive the loss.

Huge sell pressure on insurance stocks, which caused the Insurance Index to slide 4.04 per cent to 190.51 points, also contributed to the downtrend.

A negative market breadth was recorded with 47 losers reported against 12 gainers. The All Share Index eased to 39,364.67 points and market capitalisation dropped to N20.596 trillion.

Year to date, the index is down 2.25 per cent.

TOP FIVE GAINERS

UPL led gainers, appreciating by 9.91 per cent to close at N1.22. Morison went up 9.09 per cent to N0.60. CAP rose to N20, notching up 5.26 per cent in the process. WAPCO added 3.59 per cent to end today’s trade at N20.20. Livestock completed the top five, climbing by 3.17 per cent to N2.28.

TOP FIVE LOSERS

Fidson was the worst performing stock, declining by 10 per cent to close at N4.41. NNFM shed 9.97 per cent to close at N6.32. Enamelware fell to N19.90, losing 9.95 per cent. NEM slid to N1.72, recording 9.95 per cent depreciation. NCR closed at N3.09, going down by 9.91 per cent.

TOP FIVE TRADES

In all, 493.173 million shares estimated at N4.722 billion were traded in 5,486 deals.

Universal Insurance was the most active stock with 83.261 million units of its stocks worth N16.652 million traded in 11 deals.

Also, 38.648 million units of Zenith’s shares priced at N983.251 million exchanged hands in 693 transactions. FBN Holdings had 31.254 million shares valued at N216.719 million traded in 252 deals. UBA traded 26.782 million shares estimated at N211.572 million in 269 transactions. Access Bank traded 21.586 million shares valued at N168.080 million in 290 deals.