MTN, Livestock lead losers’ table as market cap sheds N116.2bn

Onome Amuge

The Nigerian stock market experienced a slight downturn on Tuesday, reversing gains made earlier in the week as the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 0.17 per cent to close at 105,931.18 points. This pullback resulted in a corresponding 0.17 per cent decrease in market capitalisation, which settled at N66.58 trillion, erasing N116.2 billion from investors’ holdings.

Despite the overall decline, underlying market sentiment appeared to remain broadly positive, buoyed by notable sectoral advances. The Banking sector led the gains with a 1.30 per cent increase, followed by Insurance (+0.53%), Consumer Goods (+0.48%), and Oil & Gas (+0.09%). In contrast, the Industrial Goods and Commodity sectors remained stagnant at the close of trading.

Market breadth favoured advancers, with 33 stocks registering gains compared to 20 decliners. Leading the pack of top performers were LEGENDINT, ABCTRANS, CADBURY, CHAMPION, and ETERNA. 

Conversely, LIVESTOCK, MULTIVERSE, MCNICHOLS, OMATEK, and telecommunications giant MTN recorded the most significant losses on the day.

Trading activity witnessed a significant appreciation, with volumes climbing by 46.44 per cent and the value of shares traded soaring 191.37 per cent. However, the total number of deals executed saw a dip of 5.77 per cent. In total, 733.05 million shares, valued at N35.29 billion, exchanged hands across 16,619 transactions.