Market capitalisation nosedives by N13bn

The market capitalisation of listed equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange fell by N13bn at the close of trading on Thursday.Market activities had opened the day with a capitalisation of N6.503tn, but dropped by 0.2 per cent to N6.490tn at the end of the days trading.The NSEs All Share Index also plunged by 41.07 basis points or 0.2 per cent. After opening at 20,491.51 points, the ASI continued its successive fourth day decline, closing at 20,450.44 points.Experts, who spoke with our correspondent on Thursday, bemoaned the fact that the market was not recovering as anticipated. They noted that investors were leaving the stock market in droves, stressing that the capital market might not regain its strength soon.According to them, the public holidays immensely slowed down activities in the market.They lamented that the policies introduced by the Central Bank of Nigeria to control inflation had done untold damage to the stock market.Calling on the regulatory authorities to take drastic measures to save the market from collapse, the analysts urged the apex bank to encourage the Exchange to always engage stakeholders in consultation before implementing monetary policies, like the recurrent hike in the Monetary Policy Rate.All the major market indicators recorded marginal depreciations at the close of business.The NSE-30, NSE Food/Beverage and NSE Banking lost 0.95, 1.47 and 2.11 points to close at 912.78, 615.06 and 291.88 points, respectively.The NSE Insurance and NSE Oil/Gas also declined by 0.42 and 1.71 points to close at 153.02 and 239.43 points, respectively.The insurance subsector displaced the banking subsector on the activity chart, recording high volume. Investors in the subsector exchanged 266.466 million shares valued at N146.109m in 132 transactions. The volume traded in the insurance subsector accounted for 55.49 per cent of turnover.Activities on the shares of Guaranty Trust Assurance Plc, NEM Insurance Company Nigeria Plc, International Energy Insurance Company Plc and Mutual Benefits Assurance Plc drove turnover in the insurance subsector.In all, 12 stocks recorded price appreciation, in contrast to 23 that recorded losses. Ecobank Nigeria Plc led the price gainers, as it moved up by five per cent or 0.09k to close at N1.89 per share.RT Briscoe Plc, on the other hand, led the price losers, shedding 4.94 per cent or 0.08k to close at N1.54 per share. At the close of business on Thursday, investors exchanged 480.124 million shares worth N2.121bn in 3799 transactions.
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