Nigerian bourse closes flat on Wednesday

Trading activities on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Wednesday closed flat, despite an increase in the volume of shares traded by investors in the market.

Despite the interest of investors in the stocks of MTN Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Holding Company and Ecobank Transnational Incorporated investors demand for FBN Holdings, Dangote Sugar and Zenith Bank, keeping the market largely still, as the All-Share Index traded flat at 51,802.48 basis points with the Month-to-Date loss and Year-to-Date return unchanged at -2.2 per cent and +21.3 per cent, respectively.

The market capitalisation of the local bourse shed N810.63 million to close at N27.93 trillion, even as the market breadth, market sentiment was positive as 16 tickers gained relative to 14 losers.

Ikeja Hotel and Royal Exchange topped the gainers’ list having appreciated in value by 10.0 per cent and 7.3 per cent respectively, while University Press and Chams recorded the highest losses of the day after their respective share values depreciated by 9.6 per cent and 8.0 per cent.

Analysis based on sector, shows that the Insurance, Consumer Goods, and Oil & Gas indices recorded gains by 0.5 per cent, 0.1 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively, while the Banking index declined by 0.1 per cent. The Industrial Goods index closed flat.

The total volume of trades increased by 32.4 per cent to 416.47 million units, valued at N3.46 billion, and exchanged in 4,466 deals.

Mutual Benefit was the most traded stock by volume at 212.51 million units while Guaranty Trust Holding Company was the most traded by value at N867.54 million.