Equity market declines by N285bn on profit taking 

Profit taking activities embarked upon by investors in the banking stock impacted negatively on the market performance, leading to market depreciation by N285 billion.Trading for the day showed that 

Market capitalisation of listed equities declined by 0.42 per cent to N66.484 trillion from N66.769 trillion reported the previous day.

The NGX All Share Index also decreased by 454.76 basis points to 106167.75 points from 106621.91 points reported on Monday.

The market which was dominated by bears recorded 31 losers against 23 advancers as year-to-date return went down to 3.15 per cent. 

A review of trading during the day showed that Live Stock Feeds led gainers table, appreciating 9.93 per cent to close at N9.85 per share, Cornerstone Insurance followed with a gain of 9.25 per cent to close at N3.19 per unit, International General Insurance added 8.99 per cent to close at N1.94 per shares, Smurfit gained 8.33 per cent to close at N0.39 per share,Lasaco Insurance added 7.53 per cent to close at N2.85 per unit.

Conversely, Mecure topped losers’ chart, declining by 10 per cent to close at N11.25 per unit, ABCTransport trailed with a loss of 7.98 per cent to close at N1.50 per share, Daar Communications dipped by 7.46 per cent to close at N0.62 per unit, Guinea Insurance fell by 7.35 per cent to close at N0.63 per unit while Express depreciated by 7.32 per cent to close at N0.76 per share.

Volume of transactions also declined by 40.38 million, representing 11.06 per cent as investors traded 324.588 million shares valued at N7.918 billion in 12652 deals against 364.963 million shares worth N17.627 billion in 14565 deals.

Transactions in the shares of Fidelity Bank led market activities with 29.387 million shares valued at N522.175 million, Access Holdings company followed with account of 28.345 worth N680.914 million, GTCO Plc traded 28.072 million shares worth N1.651 billion, Zenith Bank exchanged 22.359 million shares cost N1.067 billion, Universal insurance traded 16.194 million shares valued at N9.724 million.