By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigerian stocks on Monday commenced the week on a bearish note amid sustained profit-taking as all share index (ASI) declined 2.57 percent to close at 29,929.56 basis points.
Similarly, market capitalisation dropped by N263.6 billion to settle at N9.99 trillion; resulting to current Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to stand at a negative 13.64 percent.
Investment One Research say the decline witnessed today at the close of trades on the Nigeria bourse was as a result of blue chips losers such as lender Zenith Bank Plc (-180.32pts), beer brewer Nigerian Breweries (-167.70ptds) and cement producer Dangote Cement Plc(-163.66pts).
“In line with the negative trend on the bourse, all sectors closed in the red. Weighed down by Zenith Bank (-8.74 percent) and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc (-4.00 percent), the Banking tracker dropped by -4.78 percent. The Industrial sector as well lost -3.03 percent. The Oil & Gas tracker recorded a -2.67 percent loss while the Consumer goods sector was depressed by losses in NB (-5.00 percent) and Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc (-4.92 percent),” the Investment One report added.
The report further affirmed that aactivity level declined significantly with volume and value traded trimming by -82.9 percent and -69.5 percent respectively.
Turnover on the Nigerian equities market at the end of the day’s session shows that 299 million units valued at N1.83 billion were transacted in 3,703 deals. “Notably, the Banking sector accounted for 63 percent of total volume of trades in today’s session,” Investment One report noted.
Cordros in its market update noted that market breadth worsened as nine (9) gainers and 34 losers were reported. Drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria Plc emerged top gainer with a gain of N2.00; while Nigeria’s international lender, Zenith Bank led the lsoers chart with a loss of N1.80.
The report says apart from broad sell-offs amid profit taking activities, dividend mark-downs also led the benchmark index to its biggest single-day loss since 12 Feb 2015.
“We expect sell-offs to continue tomorrow as election fears continue to dent investor confidence,” the Cordros report added.
