By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate

Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Benchmark index at the Nigerian equities market went down 1.49 percent to end the week at 30,306.51 basis points; as the declines seen earlier in the week were too huge to trounce.

The Cordros weekly market update reported that Week-on-Week (w/w), the Banking index saw the most sell-offs, evident in a 3.49 percent decline, the Oil/Gas index followed with a 3.17 percent depreciation, while the Consumer Goods index dipped by 0.63 percent. On the contrary, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices grew by 1.81 percent and 0.96 percent respectively.

‘’The bearish w/w trading pattern persisted for the third week, as the five-day losing streak spilled into this week,’’ Cordros affirmed.

According to the report, the week began on a negative note by losing 0.88 percent on Monday and the declines were sustained through Wednesday, taking the consecutive losing streak to eight sessions, on which the benchmark index dropped to 28,961.67points (the lowest value since 15 January 2013) and market capitalisation stood below N10 trillion.

In terms of market breadth, the Nigerian bourse reported an improvement as it recorded 23 gainers and 51 losers, compared to 10 gainers and 68 losers posted the previous week.

Turnover at the Nigerian equities market in the review week shows that a total of 5.41 billion shares valued at N46.47 billion were traded this week, higher than the 1.82 billion shares worth N28.93 billion that exchanged hands last week.

‘’The huge divergence in volume and value traded this week compared to last week is as a result of Altas Mara acquisition of 20.9% shares in UBN (held 9% previously) from AMCON, approximately $250 million,’’ Cordros affirmed.

The report further affirmed that the shares of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (UBN) (3,539.51 million), FBN Holdings Plc (FBNH) (241.40million) and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria Plc (TRANSCORP) (180.51 million) collectively accounted for 73 percent of the broader market volume, while those of UBN (26.55 billion), Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (GTBank) (3.72 billion) and FBNH (2.01billion) accounted for 69 percent of total value of transactions.

Nigerian Equities: Benchmark Index Down 1.49% to End week