Stock market suffers 6% loss on Thursday

The Nigerian stock market experienced a decline today causing the benchmark index to decrease by 6 basis points and close at 99,845.91 points. The bearish sentiment was mainly driven by Tier-one banking stocks such as GTCO (-3.92%), FBNH (-0.19%), and UBA (-0.22%), which outweighed the gains made by ZENITHBANK (+1.69%), TRANSCORP (+2.94%), and GUINNESS (+10.00%). As a result, the market is heading towards its fifth consecutive weekly loss. The year-to-date return slipped to 33.53%, and the market capitalization decreased by ₦35.49 billion, closing at ₦56.47 trillion.

Trade turnover was lower compared to the previous session, with a 4.77% decrease in the value of transactions. A total of 285.91 million shares, valued at ₦5.54 billion, were exchanged in 7,726 deals. ACCESSCORP (-0.86%) led the volume chart with 43.98 million units traded, while GTCO (-3.92%) topped the value charts with deals worth ₦1.14 billion. UCAP (-9.73%) stood out as the top laggard among sixteen others, while GUINNESS (+10.00%) led fifteen others on the leader’s log.