Stock Market Down By 0.9%, After 2-Day Gain

Equity trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange went southward yesterday after a consecutive two-day gains occasioned by heavy trading in the shares of some blue chip companies, as the market went down by a cumulative value of N57 billion or 0.9 per cent.

Besides the low appetite for stocks in the days trading, UBA Plc buoyed activity in the total sector in the market by a total of 62 per cent. The bank recorded volume transaction of 186 million ordinary shares valued at N398 million done by investors in 453 deals.

The total trading from the entire subsector in the day stood at 490 ordinary shares worth N2.5 billion and swapped by investors in 4,472 deals.

Other financial institutions that recorded huge volume trading include First Bank with 53.7 million shares and Mutual Benefit which buoyed the insurance subsector that recorded a cumulative transaction value of 26.7 million shares worth N15.3 million done in 162 deals.

A further review of activities in the day showed that 24 companies appreciated in price, compared to 17 that constituted the losers' chart.

The All-share index depreciated by 178.9 basis points or 0.9 per cent from 20,492.31 to 20,313.36 while market capitalisation shed weight by N54billion from N6,458trillion to N6,401trillion.