By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigerian stocks on Tuesday closed red as all-share index (ASI) declined 1.26 percent to close at 29,553.69 points, while market capitalisation was down N125 billion to N9.86 trillion.
With the second straight loss this week on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), current market Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns stands at a negative 14.73 percent.
Investment One report says the trend is driven by concerns over political and macro-economic instability.
Also, it said the decline was as a result of sell orders on the likes of lenders, Zenith Bank Plc, (-84.15pts), FBN Holdings Plc (-37.48pts), Union Bank of Nigeria Plc (-27.02pts) and the shares of Nigeria’s first listed oil and gas upstream firm Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc (-23.07pts), while another Nigeria’s top tier lender Access Bank Plc (+43.80pts) was the session’s most notable outlier, the report added.
Turnover on the Nigerian bourse at the end of the session shows that volume and value of trades however improved by +51.30 percent and +79.40 percent respectively.
Notably, the banking sector accounted for 79 percent of market volume while Diamond Bank Plc (25.44 percent of turnover) was the most traded stock on the floor.
At the close of business, 452 million units of shares valued at N3.28 billion were exchanged in 3,739 deals.
In terms of market breadth, the Nigerian equities market recorded six (6) gainers and 24 losers. Lender Access Bank emerged top gainer with a gain of 0.60 kobo; while Guaranty trust Bank Plc (GTBank) led the losers chart with a loss of N1.18.
On its part, Cordros market update says all NSE sector indices closed negative with the exception of Industrial Goods, which closed flat. “Massive sell-offs caused the Banking index to record the biggest loss in yet another session, recording a 3.88 percent depression,” the report added
Similarly, the Oil/Gas index followed suit with a 2.08 percent decline while the Insurance and Consumer Goods indices dropped marginally by 0.27 percent and 0.10 percent respectively.
“As uncertainties buoy, sell-offs are expected to persist as investor confidence continues to dampen,” the Cordros update affirmed.
