MTN Nigeria, ZenithBank, 11 others, down equities market by N20.18bn
MTN Nigeria Plc, Zenith bank Plc, 11 others down the equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by N20.18 billion.
The Market Capitalization lost N20.18 billion representing a dip of 0.16 per cent, to close at N12.887 trillion from N12.907 trillion it opened for trading.
The All Share Index (ASI) shed 41.45 basis points, representing a decline of 0.16 per cent to close at 26,472.20 basis points from 26,513.65 basis points.
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The downtrend was impacted by losses recorded in large and medium capitalized stocks, amongst which are; Lafarge Wapco, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, Oando, Stanbic IBTC and FCMB Group Plc
Market breadth closed negative, recording 11 gainers and 13 losers as Year-Till-Date (YTD) return worsened to 15.78 per cent from 15.64 per cent.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said, “We maintain a bearish outlook on the equities the market in the next trading sessions as market sentiment remains weak.”
Meanwhile, the total volume of traded equities plummeted by 20.61 per cent to 138.47 million units; however, the total value of equities traded surged by 55.52 per cent to N3.60 billion.
Performance across sectors was bearish as the Consumer Goods and Banking indices were the only gainers, up 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively on the back of gains in Nestle Nigeria (0.4 per cent), Guaranty Trust Bank (1.3 per cent) and Fidelity Bank (1.1 per cent).
On the flipside, the Industrial Goods index led the laggards, down 1.0 per cent following sell pressures in Lafarge Wapco (4.1 per cent) while the Oil & Gas index shed 0.3 per cent due to (2.6 per cent).
Similarly, the Insurance and AFR-ICT indices fell 0.2 per cent apiece on account of sell-offs in Wapic Insurance (8.6 per cent) and MTN Nigeria (0.4 per cent).
The most active stocks by volume were Access Bank (27.3 million units), Guaranty Trust Bank (24.6 million units) and FCMB Group (23 million units) while Guaranty Trust Bank (N655.8 million), MTNN (N447.2 million) and Zenith Bank(N203.4 million) led by value.
Furthermore, Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc led the price gainers by 9.09 per cent to close at 48 kobo per share, trailed by Livestock Feeds that rose by 6.38 per cent to close yesterday at 50 kobo per share while Courteville Business Solutions appreciated by five per cent to close at 21 kobo per share for trading.
Dangote Flour Mills garnered 3.34 per cent to close trading at N23.20 as Africa Prudential increased by 2.56 per cent to close at N4 per share for trading.
