The volatility in the stock market continued on Thursday as selling pressure outweighed bargain hunting, leading equities and indices lower.
At the close of trading, the market capitalisation of the listed equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange fell by N60bn or 0.58 per cent to N10.319tn.
The stock market has remained volatile for most of this year declining significantly with gains appearing in flashes.
Like the market capitalisation, the NSE’s benchmark All-Share Index declined by 0.58 per cent, or 173.53 basis points to close at 30,025.62 basis points.
Consequently, its year-to-date return slipped to -13.36 per cent, close to the -16.14 per cent close for full-year 2014.
Thursday marked the second straight session of decline this week, following three days of gains.
Thursday’s decline comes despite the ongoing release of results for the third quarter of 2015, which has seen several companies – especially banks – report impressive performances.
The banking sub sector of the financial services sector dominated activities on Thursday in terms of turnover volume with 188.3 million shares worth N1.2bn exchanged by investors in 814 deals.
Volume in the sub-sector was driven by activities in the shares of Access Bank Plc and Fidelity Plc.
In all, 284.117 million shares valued at N2.818bn were traded in 2,962 deals with 17 equities appreciating as against 26 losers.
Oando Plc topped the gainers’ table, rising by 5.37 per cent to close at N10.40 per share.
Beta Glass Plc and Cutix Plc appreciated by five per cent each to close at N45.15 and N1.68 per share, respectively, while Honeywell Flour Mills Plc rose by 4.87 per cent to close at N2.80 per share.
However, Okomu Oil Nigeria Plc led the losers’ chart with a drop of 9.74 per cent to close at N35.63 per share. Guinness Nigeria Plc, which released its results for the three months ended September 30, 2015 on Thursday, fell by 5.70 per cent to close at N142.20 per share with Cadbury Nigeria Plc shedding five per cent to close at N20.90 per share.
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Source : Punch
