Bearish sentiment was sustained on Wednesday in the equities market as profit-taking in FCMB GROUP PLC (-8.0%), NIGERIAN BREWERIES PLC (-0.10%) and STERLING BANK PLC (-3.90%) overturned the gains in Tier-1 banks, ZENITH BANK PLC (+0.50%), FBN HOLDINGS PLC(+0.95%), ACCESS HOLDINGS PLC (+0.57%) and UNITED BANK FOR AFRICA PLC (+0.70%).
Thus, the benchmark Index fell 2bps or 0.02% to close at 49,635.76 basis points, while the market capitalization shed ₦4.94bn to close at ₦26.77trn.
At the close of the day, the total volume traded by investors stood at 128.94 million units, valued at ₦1.67 billion, and exchanged in 3,426 deals.
And for the third consecutive session, STERLING BANK PLC led the volume charts with 26.85m units traded while MTN NIGERIA COMMUNICATIONS PLC led the value charts in deals worth ₦495.50m.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was mixed with 16 advancing issues as well as 16 declining ones.
P Z CUSSONS NIGERIA PLC (+9.8%) and NPF MICROFINANCE BANK PLC (+4.6%) recorded the most significant gains of the day, while CHAMS HOLDING COMPANY PLC (-10.0%) and FCMB GROUP PLC (-8.0%) topped the losers’ list.
Analysing by sectors, the Oil & Gas (-0.3%), and Banking (-0.3%) indices declined, while the Consumer Goods (+0.1%) index was the sole gainer of the day. The Insurance and Industrial Goods indices closed flat.
Hauwa Abu
