Equities market indices shed 0.5% amid profit-taking in large stocks
The equities market of the Nigeria Stock Exchange (NSE) at the close of the trading session on Tuesday shed a whopping sum of N68.18 billion, due to price decline in large and medium capitalized stocks.
Specifically, market capitalization shed N68.18 billion or 0.53 per cent to close trading at N12.776 trillion.
Also, the All-Share Index (ASI) shed 140.06 basis points, representing a decline of 0.53 per cent to close at 26,244.39 basis points.
The market breadth closed negative, recording 13 gainers and 10 losers while Year-To-Date (YTD) return worsened to 16.50 per cent from 16.06 per cent.
Performance across sectors was bearish as the Industrial Goods, Banking and AFR-ICT indices shed the most, down 0.9 per cent apiece as a result of sell-offs in Lafarge WAPCO (four per cent), Guaranty Trust Bank (2.7 per cent), United Bank for Africa (1.7 per cent) and MTN Nigeria (1.6 per cent).
Similarly, the Oil & Gas index lost 0.2 per cent on account of price depreciation in Oando (1.2 per cent) and Forte Oil (0.6 per cent).
On the flip side, the Insurance index appreciated the most, up 0.8 per cent, following buy interest in Cornerstone Insurance (9.8 per cent) and AIICO Insurance (9.5 per cent) while the Consumer Goods index trailed, as it gained 0.1 per cent due to price appreciation in Nigerian Breweries (0.4 per cent).
Meanwhile, the total volume of equities traded nosedived by 44.87 per cent to 267.90 million units; however, the total value of equities traded increased by 156.66 per cent to N2.77 billion.
FCMB Group (51.6 million units), Zenith Bank (43.1 million units) and Guaranty Trust Bank (42.3 million units) were the top traded stocks by volume while Guaranty Trust Bank (N1.1 billion), Zenith Bank (N732 million) and Access Bank (N272.0m) led by value.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said, “In line with our expectations, the market closed on a bearish note. Although there is room for bargain hunting, we expect the bearish sentiment to persist.”
