Stocks shed N48bn as cautious trading persists on NGX

Nigeria’s equities market recorded another session of negative close on Wednesday by 0.07 percent while market capitalisation decreased by N48billion as investors cautious mood continues to subdue market activity.

Wednesday’s major laggards include stocks like Conoil, Berger Paints, International Energy Insurance, Multiverse Mining & Exploration, Regency Assurance.

Conoil decreased most from N368 to N331.20, losing N36.80 or 10 percent. Berger Paints dropped from a high of N20.90 to N18.85, losing N2.05 or 9.81 percent, while International Energy Insurance decreased from N1.94 to N1.75, losing 19 kobo or 9.79 percent.

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“Investor sentiment remains cautious amid subdued market activity, thus, we anticipate a continuation of mixed and cautious trading, driven by selective buying interest in fundamentally sound stocks, though intermittent profit-taking may persist,” said analysts at Vetiva Research in their March 11 note ahead of Wednesday’s trading.

The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and equities market capitalisation decreased further from preceding trading day’s 106,167.75 points and N66.484 trillion respectively to 106,090.38 points and N66.436 trillion.

In 11,748 deals, investors exchanged 1,498,849,693 shares valued at N10.259 billion. Among others, Zenith Bank, Jaiz Bank and United Capital were actively traded on Wednesday.