Nigerian stocks fell for a third straight day on Wednesday as the benchmark index contracted by 1.81 per cent, putting the bourse on course for a negative return this week.
Telecoms heavyweight MTN Nigeria triggered the loss, shedding as much as 10 per cent, the maximum daily decline allowed by the exchange, as a huge volume of its shares were put up for sale the same day it launched its initial public offering, where 575 million shares are hoped to be sold.
Access Bank, Africa Prudential and Flour Mills also added to the strain.
“We do not anticipate positive catalysts to change the direction of the market and thus expect to see another sideways week with sustained bearish bias,” analysts at broker and investment bank United Capital said in a forecast for this week seen by PREMIUM TIMES.
Market breadth, which measures investor sentiment, closed on a negative note with 23 laggards reported against 15 gainers.
The all-share index dropped 784.89 basis points to 42,463.16, while market capitalisation weakened to 22.16 trillion.
Year to date, the index is up by 5.44 per cent.
TOP FIVE GAINERS
Cornerstone led the gainers’ chart, appreciating by 7.69 per cent to close at N0.56. Mansard went up by 7.55 per cent to N2.28. Chams rose to N0.21, notching up 5 per cent in the process. NGX Group added 3.66 per cent to end trade at N17. FTN Group completed the top 5, climbing up by 2.56 per cent to N0.40.
TOP FIVE LOSERS
MTNN was the worst performing stock, declining by 10 per cent to close at N171. Africa Prudential shed 7.69 per cent to close at N6. UPDC fell to N0.99, losing 7.48 per cent. Royal Exchange dipped to N0.51, recording 5.56 per cent depreciation. Honeywell Flour closed at N3.74, going down by 5.32 per cent.
TOP FIVE TRADES
In all, 335.5 million shares estimated at N3.6 billion, traded in 3,891 deals.
FBN Holdings was the most active stock with 134 million units of its shares worth N1.6 billion traded in 285 deals. Universal Insurance traded 36.2 million shares priced at N7.2 million in 13 transactions. Zenith had 18.3 million shares valued at N440.1 million traded in 307 deals. GTCO traded 13.6 million shares estimated at N334.8 million in 310 transactions. tRANSCORP traded 10.5 million shares valued at N10.2 million in 82 deals.
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