Equity market opens negative, sheds N71bn

Domestic equity yesterday opened the week on a negative note, shedding N71 billion as sell offs in shares of financial services sector impacted negatively on activities of the market.

The NGX trading result showed that market capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.3 per cent to N26.38 trillion from N26.45 trillion reported the previous day.

The Nigerian Exchange (NGX) also depreciated by 144.64 basis points to 48879.74 points from 49024.16 points traded the previous day

Investors traded 173.46 million shares valued at N2.39 billion in 4926 deals against 356.73 million shares cost N3.74 billion exchanged hands the previous day in 4219 deals.

An analysis of the transactions showed that GTCO Plc was the most active stock during the day, exchanging 71.194 million shares valued at N1.263 billion in 687 deals, Zenith Bank followed with account of 14.387 million shares cost N283.578 million in 432 deals, United Bank for Africa sold a total of 10.665 million shares worth N73.292 million 296 deals , NGX Group exchanged 8.354 million shares valued at N173.924 million in 91 deals while Chams Plc traded 6.779 million shares cost N1.864 million in 36 deals.

The result showed that Multiverse Plc led gainers table during the day, gaining 7.76 per cent to N4.05, RTBriscoe followed with a gain of 8.82 per cent to N0.37, NGX group added 7.50 per cent to N21.50 , AIICO Insurance gained 5.77 per cent to N0.55, Africa Prudential Register increased by 4.0 per cent to N5.20.

On the contrary, International Breweries topped losers chart during the day, dropping by 9.09 per cent to N4.50, Redstarex trailed with a loss of 7.83 per cent to N2.12, Sovereign Insurance fell by 7.41 per cent to N0.25, Japaul Gold down by 7.14 per cent to N0.26, Chi Plc down 7.02 per cent to N0.53.