Equities trading sustain losses with 0.34% decline

……..AXA Mansard, Cement Co of N/ Nigeria, Linkage lead gainers
…….Vitafoam, University Press, others lose
Equities Trading activities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange declined further on Wednesday, as major market indicators i.e. the All Share Index (ASI) and the Market Capitalisation dropped 0.34 percent to close the day at 36,652.82 points and N12.617 trillion respectively.

This represents the second consecutive trading day wherein the lead indices closed in the negative territory

The All-Share Index fell by 123.8 points to 36,652 compared to a decline of 55.33 points recorded in the previous session; while the market capitalisation fell by N42.6 billion, as against a depreciation of N19.04 billion recorded on Tuesday.

The day’s market performance was poor despite growth recorded in 3 out of 5 major sectoral indices. The NSE’s industrial, insurance and oil & gas indices appreciated 0.15, 2.35 and 0.63 per cent respectively,

However, a decline of 1.08 per cent and 0.15 per cent recorded in the NSE’s consumer goods and banking indices contributed significantly to the 0.34 per cent decline recorded in the ASI on Wednesday.

The price movement chart indicated theta market breadth recorded no change from the previous session, as 19 gainers remained paired against 19 losers.

Vitafoam led the loser’s chart with a decline of 5 per cent to close at N2.66 per share. Law Union and Rocks came next with a decline of 4.71 per cent to close at 81 kobo; and University Press Limited (UPL) depreciated 4.67 per cent to close at N2.45 per share.

Conversely, AXA Mansard topped the gainer’s chart with a growth of 10 per cent to close at N2.31 per share, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria added 9.23 per cent to close the day at N10.18 and Linkage Assurance appreciated 6.67 per cent to close at 80 kobo per share.

Meanwhile, turnover dropped 5 per cent as investors in 3,689 deals exchange a total of 336.4 million shares worth N1.834 billion. This is in comparison 353.2 million units of shares valued at N3.255bn exchanged by investors in 4,201 deals previously.

Volume movers for the day otherwise known as top traders include Diamond Bank, that emerged the most active stock to boost turnover for the fourth consecutive session as it exchanged 230.6 million shares for N230.2m.

Skye Bank was next with the sale of 13.4 million shares valued at N6.8m and Zenith Bank sold 10.5 million units at N265.8m.

Fidelity came fourth with 9.7 million units exchanged for N13.4m, while 9.1 million units of FBN Holdings were exchanged for N55.5m.`