MRS, others drag equity market to N284bn loss

Financial Markets

The Nigerian Exchange closed in negative territory at the end of Tuesday’s trading session, with the All-Share Index dropping by 0.44 per cent to settle at 103,958.75 points.

This decline wiped off N284bn from the market’s capitalisation, which now stands at N64.2tn.

The trading session saw 127 equities participating, with 30 gainers and 32 losers.

Market performance was dragged down by losses in heavyweight stocks, led by MRS Oil Nigeria, which topped the losers’ chart with a 9.95 per cent drop to close at N162.90 per share. Red Star Express followed with a 9.9 per cent decline, ending at N4.55 per share, while Learn Africa lost 9.82 per cent to close at N4.50. Daar Communications and Veritas Kapital also suffered significant losses, falling by 8.33 per cent and 7.74 per cent, to close at N0.77 and N1.43 per share, respectively.

Despite the overall market decline, some equities recorded gains, led by Okomu Oil Palm, which appreciated by 10 per cent to close at N488.40 per share. Eunisell Interlinked followed closely with a 10 per cent gain to settle at N12.54 per share, while SCOA Nigeria also rose by 10 per cent to end at N4.07. Skye Shelter Fund gained 9.97 per cent to close at N197.35, and NEM Insurance increased by 9.96 per cent, closing at N13.25 per share.

Trading activity improved compared to the previous session, with a total of 542.2m shares exchanged in 15,561 deals, valued at N13.64bn. This reflects a 5 per cent increase in traded volume, a 3 per cent rise in turnover, but a 10 per cent decline in the number of deals.

In terms of traded volume, Access Holdings led the chart with 44 million shares, followed by Sterling Bank, which recorded 42.2 million shares.

Zenith Bank and United Bank for Africa also featured prominently, trading 33.8m and 29.2m shares, respectively.

Sectoral performance was mixed as the Oil & Gas Index gained 1.06 per cent, while the Consumer Goods Index dropped by 0.26 per cent. The Pension Index and the Top 30 Index also recorded losses, declining by 0.76 per cent and 0.42 per cent, respectively.

The PUNCH reported that the Nigerian Stock Exchange experienced a surge of N795bn in market capitalisation on the first trading day of the week, bringing the total market capitalisation to N64.44tn. The All-Share Index increased by 0.79 per cent, gaining 820.65 points to close at 104,418.95. This represents a one-week gain of two per cent and a four-week gain of 2.24 per cent.