The bearish trend on the Nigerian Exchange persisted on Thursday, with the market losing N6 billion. The All Share Index fell by 0.1 percent, closing at 97,477.19, while market capitalization slipped to N56 trillion. This downturn moderated the market’s year-to-date performance to 30.36 percent.
Investors traded 277,745,152 shares across 7,091 deals, amounting to N4.65 trillion. The trading volume reflected a 22 percent decline, while turnover and the number of deals decreased by 33 percent and 17 percent, respectively.
At the end of the trading session, 122 stocks were involved, with 23 gaining and 22 losing value. Regency Alliance Insurance led the gainers, with a 10 percent increase in share price, closing at N0.66. Other notable gainers included Caverton Offshore Support Group (+9.73 percent), Royal Exchange (+8.7 percent), and Associated Bus Company (+8.2 percent).
On the downside, Daar Communications faced the largest decline, dropping 10 percent to N0.63. It was followed by Livestock Feeds (-9.88 percent), Fidson Healthcare (-9.71 percent), and Sunu Assurances Nigeria (-9.71 percent).
Fidelity Bank topped the trading volume with 43.3 million shares exchanged, followed by United Bank for Africa with 30.7 million shares, Zenith Bank with 25.6 million shares, and Lasaco Assurance with 22.1 million shares.