The Nigerian equities market started the week and month on a negative note as profit-taking witnessed in some banking stocks; FBN HOLDINGS PLC, which declined 2.7%, GUARANTY TRUST HOLDING COMPANY PLC which fell 0.9% and ECOBANK TRANSNATIONAL INCORPORATED which fell 4.5%, caused a 0.2% decline in the benchmark index.
Hence, the NGX All Share Index, ASI closed the day’s trading at 41,789.59 basis points, a 61.81 basis points or 0.2 percent fall from 42,038.60 basis points. While the Market Capitalization declined 32 billion Naira or 0.2 percent from 21,938 trillion Naira to 21,906 trillion Naira.
According to analysis by Cordros Asset management company, this fall has therefore led to the Year-to-Date gain to be moderated to +4.2%.
The total volume of trades declined by 66.5% to 378.15 million units, valued at N3.24 billion, and exchanged in 6,384 deals.
MUTUAL BENEFITS ASSURANCE PLC. was the most traded stock by volume at 52.44 million units, while ZENITH BANK PLC was the most traded stock by value at N339.72 million.
Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth was negative as 33 stocks lost relative to 20 gainers.
The top three losers are; ETERNA PLC which declined from N8.65k per share to N7.79k per share, losing 0.86k or 9.94 percent. Next is UPDC PLC, falling from N1.80k per share to N1.63k per share, losing 0.17k or 9.44 percent. While COURTEVILLE BUSINESS SOLUTIONS PLC fell from 0.44k per share to 0.40k per share, losing 0.04k or 9.09 percent.
On the reverse side, the top three gainers for the day are; FIDSON HEALTHCARE PLC which appreciated from a previous selling price of N6.15k per share to close at N6.76k per share, making a gain of 0.61k or 9.92 percent. Followed by GUINNESS NIG PLC which upped from N36.30k per share to N39.90k per share, gaining N3.60k or 9.92 percent. And SOVEREIGN TRUST INSURANCE PLC gained 0.02k or 9.09 percent to close at 0.24k from previous selling price of 0.22k per share.
Sectoral performance was mixed, as the Oil & Gas, Banking and Consumer Goods indices fell 1.8%, 0.4%, and 0.3% respectively, while the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices gained 1.9% and 0.1%, respectively.
Bilkisu Pai
