The Nigerian equities   shed N107 billion in the month of September which ended yesterday compared to a gain recorded in the August. Although trading at the market in the last two days of the month was positive, losses recorded earlier in the month led to an overall decline in the aggregate value of equities for the month.

The market, which opened the month with a  capitalisation of N13.714 trillion closed yesterday at N13.607 trillion, indicating  a depreciation of N107 billion.

Similarly, the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.78 per cent from 41,532.31 to 41,201.10 for the month. The market recorded a growth of 1.3 per cent in terms of ASI and N186 billion in terms capitalisation for the month of August. The bearish performance of the market in September brought the year-to-date performance of the market to a negative 0.29 per cent. However, on quarterly basis, the market went down by three per cent for the quarter that ended yesterday.

Market operators attributed the weak performance in the month of September to investors’ continued reactions to the poor half year results recorded by some of the companies.
But  they  expressed optimism that the month of October would be positive as the market awaits financial results of company for the nine months ended September 30, 2014.

Meanwhile, the market was highly bullish on the last day of September as ASI went up and trading value surged to N8. 1 billion invested in 1.07 billion shares in 4,894 deals.  The three most actively traded stocks were: Skye Bank (614.88 million),  Zenith Bank (51.61 million shares) and  Chams (50.89 million shares).

In terms price gainers for the day, Guinness Nigeria Plc led with N15.48 to close at N214.98 per share. PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc followed, chalking up N2.10, while Stanbic IBTC Bank  Plc and UACN Property Development Company Plc appreciated by N1.60 and N1.32 respectively. Oando Plc and Forte Oil garnered N1.22 and N1.00 in that order