For the third consecutive day, the Nigerian equities market tumbled as poor performances by stocks like WAPCO, Nigerian Breweries, FCMB, and others cost investors N720 billion in profit on Wednesday.
After five hours of trading today, the market capitalization dropped to N54.3 trillion from N55.0 trillion posted by the bourse on Tuesday.
Similarly, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased to 99,266.02 from 100,582.89 recorded the previous day.
The market breadth also closed negative as only five stocks advanced, 51 declined, while 61 others remained unchanged in 10,549 deals.
PZ Cussons led other gainers with 10% growth in share price to close at N29.15 from the previous N26.50 per share.
Juli, NAHCO, and NPF Micro Finance Bank also posted 9.93%, 1.53%, and 0.69% increase in their share prices.
Lafarge Africa and Nigerian Breweries led other price decliners as they shed 10% each off their share price to close at N31.95 and N30.60 from the previous N35.50 and N34.00 per share.
First Bank of Nigeria Holding (FBNH), Champion Breweries, and C & I Leasing with 9.97%, 9.86%, and 9.85% cuts in their share prices completed the list of losers in today’s trading.
On the volume index, Transcorp traded 52.567 million shares valued at N675.5 million in 597 deals followed by United Bank for Africa (UBA) with 39.472 million shares worth N823.9 million traded by shareholders in 816 deals.
Access Bank Holding traded 35.291 million shares worth N620.9 million in 796 deals.
Zenith Bank traded stocks worth N1 billion in 868 deals followed by UBA with equities worth N832 million in 816 deals.
Transcorp traded stocks worth N675 million in 597 deals.