Nigerian stock market daily report: Local bourse closes flat as activity levels continue to wane

After two days of loses, the Nigerian Exchanges’ equities market closed flat on Wednesday, even as activity levels continued to wane.

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Gainers and losers were able to cancel each other out by the end of trading, with the All-Share index dropping a negligible 1.74 points, while the market capitalization shed ₦1.00 billion to close at ₦55.87 trillion.

Week-to-date, the NGX All-Share Index loses remained at 2.22%, with Investor’s Tuesday’s loses make it two days of loss out of two days of trading this week, culminating in a 2.2% week-to-date loss.

Activity Level

The activity level waned further on Wednesday as all of volume, value of shares traded and the number of deals decreased.

The volume of shares and value of shares traded dropped by 30.80% and 15.68% respectively, while the number of deals done also decreased by 17.82%.

By the end of trading, 341.92 million shares valued at ₦6.40 billion had exchanged hands in 9,665 deals.

Shares of Transnational Corporation Plc (NGX: TRANSCORP), FBN Holdings Plc (NGX: FBNH), and Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (NGX: GTCO) were the most traded stocks by volume with 39.90 million, 33.60 million and 26.01 million shares respectively.

Shares of Guaranty Trust Holding Company Plc (NGX: GTCO), FBN Holdings Plc (NGX: FBNH), and United Bank for Africa Plc (NGX: UBA) were the most traded by value, with their shares worth ₦1.01 billion, ₦840.59 million and ₦598.17 million respectively exchanging hands.

Top gainers and losers

In the day’s trading session, 19 stocks advanced against 35 decliners.

The top five gainers were;

1. Meyer Plc  (NGX: MEYER): It gained 10% to close at ₦5.72.
2. Tripple Gee and Company Plc (NGX: TRIPPLEG): It lost 9.84% to close at ₦4.13.
3. Juli Plc (NGX: JULI): It gained 9.85% to close at ₦0.84.
4. Cornerstone Insurance Plc (NGX: CORNERST): It gained 8.78% to close at ₦2.23.
5. Africa Prudential Plc (NGX: AFRIPRUD): It gained 8.70% to close at ₦8.75.

The top five losers on were;

1. Aiico Insurance Plc (NGX: AIICO): It lost 9.92% to close at ₦1.18.
2. Cadbury Nigeria Plc (NGX: CADBURY): It lost 9.50% to close at ₦21.90
3. Guinea Insurance Plc (NGX: GUINEAINS): It lost 8.93% to close at ₦0.51.
4. Tantalizers Plc (NGX: TANTALIZER): It lost 8.70% to close at ₦0.42.
5. Honeywell Flour Mill Plc (NGX: HONYFLOUR): It gained 6.96% to close at  ₦4.01

Three out of the five indices under our watch closed negatively, one gained, while one closed flat.

1. Banking Index: The index lost 1.45% to close at 918.04 points (YTD: +2.32%).
2. Industrial Index: The industrial index lost 0.10% to close at 5,445.89 points (YTD: +100.79%).
3. Consumer Goods Index: The index gained 1.32% to 1,496.20 points (YTD: +33.44%).
4. Oil & Gas Index: It closed flat at 1,251.64 points (YTD: +20.00%).
5. Insurance Index: The index lost 1.49% to close at 418.22 points (YTD: +30.02%).

Nnamdi Maduakor

Nnamdi Maduakor is a Writer, Investor and Entrepreneur