The Nigerian Exchange sustained its bearish trend on Thursday, losing N84 billion in market value, driven by declines in Skyway Aviation Handling and NEM Insurance stocks.
The All-Share Index dropped by 0.15% to close at 97,978.02 basis points, while market capitalisation also decreased by 0.15% to N55.424 trillion.
The market’s downturn was marked by a higher number of decliners (28) compared to gainers (17). This follows N89 billion loss on Wednesday, as investors reacted to the Central Bank of Nigeria’s Monetary Policy Committee’s decision to hike the benchmark interest rate.
Among the significant losers, Skyway Aviation Handling experienced a steep decline of 9.80%, closing at N20.70. NEM Insurance saw its shares drop by 9.47% to N7.65, while FTNCocoa fell by 9.35%, ending at N1.26.
In contrast, C&I Leasing led the gainers with a 9.90% rise to N3.44, followed by Caverton, which appreciated by 7.69% to close at N1.40.
Trading activity saw a marginal increase, with the number of deals rising by 6.35% to 7,852 and the trading volume growing by 16.5% to 316.453 million shares. United Bank for Africa (UBA) led the volume chart, trading 50,316,438 units across 788 deals. Julius Berger emerged as the most traded security by value, with transactions totaling N1.47 billion in 303 deals.
Major contributors to the trading volume and value included UBA, Guaranty Trust Bank Holding Company, Zenith Bank, Transcorp, and Julius Berger.
Sectoral performance showed mixed results, with three out of five sectors closing in the red. The banking sector declined by 1.42%, and the consumer goods sector slightly fell by 0.05%. However, the oil and gas sector posted a gain of 0.72%, while the industrial goods sector remained stable.
