By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigerian stocks opened the New Year on a bearish note as the Nigerian Stock Exchange all-share index (NSE ASI) dipped by 2.06 percent to close at 33,943.29 points, while market capitalisation declined by N240.33 billion to close at 11.24trillion.
‘’This was as a result of losses recorded in blue-chips like cement maker, Dangote Cement Plc, brewer, Nigerian Breweries Plc, beverage manufacturer, Nestle Nigeria Plc, lender, FBN Holdings Plc and oil marketer, Forte Oil Plc,’’ a Cordros report said.
According to the report, only one (1) out of the five (5) NSE Sectoral indices gained.
It reported that the Oil/Gas index emerged the only gainer for the first market session of the year with a 0.43 percent increase. While on the contrary, the Industrial Goods indices led the losers with a 2.82 percent decrease.
The Banking and Consumer Goods index also followed with a drop of 1.29 percent and 1.15 percent respectively. However, the Insurance index was at the bottom with a 0.61 percent decline.
In terms of market breadth, at the end of the session, the Nigerian bourse closed on a negative note, with 16 gainers and 28 losers recorded.
Turnover shows that volume traded climbed up by 28.06 percent to 299.41 million shares valued at N5.46 billion and traded in 3,803 deals.
‘’We believe the bearish run would continue as a positive catalyst remains unseen,’’ the Cordros report affirmed.
