Stock market closes red amid sell pressure

The Nigerian equities market closed red on Thursday following sell pressure in the shares of consumer goods sector.
Specifically, the market capitalisation dropped N3 billion or 0.01 per cent to close at N19.729 trillion from N19.732 posted on Wednesday.
Also, the All-Share Index lost 5.65 points or 0.01 per cent to close at 37,866.90 from 37,872.55 achieved on Wednesday.
Thus, the month-to-date and year-to-date losses were 0.1 per cent and 6.0 per cent, respectively.
The loss was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Nigerian Breweries, Vitafoam Nigeria, Dangote Sugar Refinery, Guaranty Trust Bank Holding Company (GTCO) and Ikeja Hotel.
However, the market closed positive with 18 gainers in contrast with 16 laggards.
Sovereign Trust Insurance drove the gainers’ chart in percentage terms with 10 per cent to close at 33k per share.
FTN Cocoa Processors followed with a gain of 9.76 per cent to close at 45k, while CWG Plc went up by 9.65 per cent to close at N1.25 per share.
AIICO Insurance rose by 9.52 per cent to close at N1.15, while Red Star Express gained 8.04 per cent to close at N3.36 per share.
On the other hand, Ikeja Hotel led the losers’ chart in percentage terms by 9.29 per cent to close at N1.27 per share.
UPDC followed with a loss of 9.09 per cent to close at N1.30, while Wapic Insurance lost 8.47 per cent to close at 54k per share.
University Press declined by 7.24 per cent to close at N1.41, while Unity Bank shed 6.35 per cent to close at 59k per share.
Transactions in the shares of Sovereign Trust Insurance topped the activity chart with 14.95 million shares valued at N4.75 million.
Fidelity Bank followed with 13.48 million shares worth N32.16 million, while Wapic Insurance traded 11.96 million shares valued at N6.49 million.
UPDC traded 11.25 million shares worth N15.26 million, while Courteville Business Solutions transacted 9.81 million shares valued at N2.17 million.
In all, the total volume of trades fell by 18.9 per cent to 159.99 million units worth N927.86 million exchanged in 3,038 deals.
This was against the 197.23 million shares valued at N2.14 billion transacted in 3,610 deals on Wednesday.