Stock investors lose N7bn

The market capitalization of the Nigerian Exchange Limited had days of increasing movement, but investors lost N7 billion at the end of trading on Thursday.

To settle at 54,924.08 points, the All-Share Index lost 0.02 per cent of its value. Corresponding to this, the market capitalization decreased by N7 billion to N29.920 trillion at the closing of the day, while the year-to-date returns were 6.45 percent.

From the start of the year, the market has increased by 3,328.42 points.

Volume-wise, 2,575 deals totalling 117,850,276 shares worth N1.398 billion were made on the floor of the NGX.

As 17 stocks were listed on the losers' table and 14 were listed on the gainers' table, the market breadth was negative.

Transcorp Hotels came in second with an 8.32% increase to close trading at N6.90, trailing Sunu Assurance, which saw its share value increase 9.09% to close at N0.48.

NCR, which closed the day at N2.35, experienced the largest decrease in share value of the day (9.96%) on the losers' table. Mansard lost 7.50 percent to settle at N1.85, while Linkage Assurance shares lost 8.70 percent to conclude at N0.42.

The most actively traded stock on the NGX floor was MTN Nigeria, with 1,574,033 of its shares worth N370,213,040.60 changing hands in 208 transactions.

Following closely were Zenith Bank and First Bank Holdings, which traded 7,896,749 shares for N198.176 million and 13,061,285 shares worth N143.571 million in 143 and 141 deals, respectively.