Nigerian equities market extended negative sentiments at the end of yesterday’s transactions on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), causing the All Share Index (ASI) depreciate further by 0.07 per cent.
Yesterday, the ASI shed 30.75 absolute points, representing a loss of 0.07 per cent to close at 41,051.63 points. Accordingly, investors lost N16 billion in value as market capitalisation went down to N21.475 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large value stocks, including Ardova Plc, BUA Cement, UAC of Nigeria (UACN), Access Bank, and Red Star Express
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “Following two consecutive days of losses, we expect investors to take position in bell wethers.
“The domestic bourse again rode south on the back of declines in the Banking (-0.73%), Oil & Gas (-46bps), and Industrial goods (-0.27%) sectors. In spite of the attractive price levels of most fundamentally-sound stocks when compared to their target prices, trading sessions for the week have been largely controlled by the bears.
“This is due to profit taking on gains made in the previous week. Given that the index has closed south in the last two sessions, we expect some bargain hunting activities to return tomorrow, driven by low prices.”
However, sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive, as 43 stocks gained, relative to 21 losers. Afromedia, Guinea Insurance, NEM Insurance, Prestige Assurance, Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services and Wapic Insurance recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each, to close at 22 kobo, 22 kobo, N2.53, 55 kobo, 33 kobo, and 66 kobo per share, respectively.
Livestock Feeds followed with 9.91 per cent to close at N2.55, while AIICO Insurance rose by 9.85 per cent to close at N1.45, per share. On the other hand, Japaul Gold and Ventures led the losers’ chart by 9.86 per cent to close at N1.28, and Ardova Plc followed with a decline of 8.63 per cent to close at N18.00, per share.FTN Cocoa Processors and Honeywell Flour Mill shed 8.33 per cent each to close at 66 kobo and N1.10, each, and Chams lost 6.67 per cent to close at 28 kobo per share.
The total volume traded fell by 28.9 per cent to 525.007 million shares, worth N5.337 billion, and traded in 5,965 deals. Transactions in the shares of Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) topped the activity chart with 42.941 million shares valued at N50.240 million.
Japaul Gold and Ventures followed with 39.589 million shares worth N50.872 million, while Zenith Bank traded 28.525 million shares at N745.994 million. BUA Cement traded 25.699 million shares valued at N2.049 billion, and Courteville Business Solutions transacted 21.974 million shares worth N5.327 million.
