Investors on the Nigerian Exchange Limited, NGX, recorded a massive ₦1.62 trillion loss on Wednesday as the equities market reversed gains posted in the previous trading session.
The decline followed the decision of the Central Bank of Nigeria, CBN, to retain the country’s interest rate at 26.50 percent after the conclusion of its 305th Monetary Policy Committee meeting.
As a result, market capitalisation dropped by 1.02 percent, representing a decline of ₦1.619 trillion, to close at ₦159.660 trillion compared to ₦161.279 trillion recorded earlier.
The All-Share Index also fell sharply by 2,573.05 points, representing a 1.02 percent loss, settling at 249,062.37 from the previous 251,635.42 points.
The market downturn reduced the year-to-date return to 60.05 percent.
Despite the losses, market breadth remained positive with 41 gainers against 25 losers.
Among top gainers, Zichis Agro Allied Industries and ABC Transport led with gains of 9.99 percent each, closing at ₦32.04 and ₦8.26 respectively.
Other notable gainers included:
• Ja Paul Gold, which rose by 9.95 percent to ₦4.09
• Livingtrust Mortgage Bank, which gained 9.92 percent to ₦4.21
• FTN Cocoa Processors, which appreciated by 9.91 percent to ₦10.76
On the losers’ chart, BUA Cement recorded the biggest decline after shedding 10 percent to close at ₦414.
Other declining stocks included:
• Chemical and Allied Products, down 9.99 percent to ₦210.35
• E-Tranzact, which fell 7.03 percent to ₦17.20
• International Breweries, down 5.38 percent to ₦12.30
• Deap Capital Management, which lost 4.92 percent to ₦5.80
Trading activity also weakened during the session as total traded volume declined by 14.74 percent to 600.22 million shares valued at ₦32.72 billion across 58,958 deals.
Access Holdings led the volume chart with 55.96 million shares traded, while Zenith Bank recorded the highest transaction value at ₦4.81 billion.
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