Nigeria’s stock market witnessed heavy loss on Wednesday as investors remained cautious of the recent threats by President Donald Trump of an onslaught on terrorists in Nigeria.
The situation has forced market participants to press the panic button, causing the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited to bleed due to selling pressure.
Yesterday, Customs Street was down by 1.35 per cent, with investor sentiment closing weak due to a negative market breadth index after recording 16 price gainers and 46 price losers.
C&I Leasing lost 10.00 per cent to close at N5.58, Transcorp also shed 10.00 per cent to finish at N45.00, SAHCO depreciated by 9.99 per cent to N80.60, Beta Glass slumped by 9.99 per cent to N393.70, and RT Briscoe fell by 9.92 per cent to N3.18.
On the flip side, NCR Nigeria gained 10.00 per cent to settle at N17.60, Legend Internet appreciated by 9.16 per cent to N5.84, Cornerstone Insurance improved by 8.80 per cent to N6.18, UPDC soared by 8.30 per cent to N6.00, and Linkage Assurance surged by 8.11 per cent to N2.00.
At the midweek session, investors transacted 1.1 billion shares worth N29.8 billion in 27,303 deals versus the 683.9 million shares valued at N20.4 billion traded on Tuesday.
This showed that the trading volume increased by 60.84 per cent, the trading value rose by 46.08 per cent, and the number of deals decreased by 17.98 per cent.
The banking space was the most active yesterday, with Fidelity Bank selling 608.2 million stocks worth N14.0 billion. Sterling Holdco traded 81.7 million shares valued at N628.5 million, Zenith Bank transacted 53.7 million equities for N3.3 billion, FCMB sold 40.4 million shares valued at N423.2 million, and Access Holdings sold 39.4 million equities worth N915.5 million.
Business Post reports that the energy and the commodity indices appreciated by 0.22 per cent each, while the industrial goods counter lost 1.16 per cent, the consumer goods index declined by 1.02 per cent, the banking industry tumbled by 0.19 per cent, and the insurance sector fell by 0.08 per cent.
Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) retreated by 2,055.73 points to 150,573.87 points from 152,629.60 points and the market capitalisation contracted by N1.306 trillion to N95.665 trillion from the previous day’s N96.971 trillion.