The nation’s stock market has begun the last quarter of the year with N153bn loss as banking, oil and gas and consumer goods stocks pushed the market performance lower.
Trading resumed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange on Wednesday after a one-day break to observe the Independence Day celebration.
At the end of trading on Wednesday, the market capitalisation of equities depreciated from N13.450tn on Monday to N13.297tn as the All Share Index lost 114 basis points to settle at 27,314.87bps.
Analysts said the negative performance was due to price depreciation in Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated.
The year-to-date performance worsened to -13.1 per cent.
A total of 175.780 million shares worth N2.6bn were exchanged in 3,539 deals.
This represented a 9.8 per cent and 16.2 decline in volume and value traded, respectively, from the 194.797 million units worth N3.065bn that were traded on Monday.
The top traded stocks by volume were FBN Holdings Plc (17.4 million units), Access Bank Plc (10.6 million units) and Zenith Bank Plc (9.4 million units) while GTB (N684.2m), Dangote Cement Plc (N590.5m) and Nascon Allied Industries Limited (N274.1m) led by value.
The banking and oil and gas indices led losers, following sell offs in Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Ecobank, 11 Plc and Total Nigeria Plc.
The consumer goods index was down 1.2 per cent due to losses in Nigerian Breweries and Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc.
Conversely, the insurance and industrial goods indices closed green on the back of buying interest in Continental Reinsurance Plc, Wapic Insurance Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc.
Investor sentiment weakened as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) declined to 0.5x from 1.0x recorded on Monday.
A total of 11 gainers were recorded, relative to 24 losers.
The top five gainers were Neimeth Pharmaceutical Company Plc, Continental Reinsurance, Associated Bus Transport Company Plc, Wapic Insurance and Honeywell Flour Mill Plc.
The top five losers were Fidson Healthcare Plc, Africa Prudential Plc, Ecobank, MRS Oil Plc and Conoil Plc.
Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited said they maintained their bearish stand for the market, although the current low prices of stocks presented opportunities for bargain hunting.
