By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Nigerian stocks on Monday commenced the month of May on a negative note as all-share index (ASI) declined 0.17 percent to close at 34,649.28 points, while market capitalisation went down by N19.95 billion to close at N11.77 trillion.
The dip that led the current market Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) returns on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) to a negative 0.02 percent was as a result of sell- offs witnessed in the shares of lenders Unity Bank Plc, FBN Holdings Plc, insurer, Mansard Insurance Plc, cement maker, Dangote Cement Plc and oil marketer, Forte Oil Plc, according to Cordros daily market update.
The report affirmed that three (3) out of the five (5) NSE Sectoral indices appreciated. “The Banking index had the best performance with a 0.69 percent increase, while the Oil/Gas and Consumer Goods indices followed with 0.68 percent and 0.43 percent rise respectively,” the Cordros update added.
On the contrary, the Insurance and Industrial Goods indices recorded losses of 1.44 percent and 1.01 percent respectively.
At the close of business on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth posted a negative outlook recording 24 gainers and 29 losers.
Manufacturer of foam furniture and furnishings, as well as bedding Vitafoam Nigeria Plc emerged top gainer with gain of 0.49 kobo; while Nigeria’s mid tier lender, Unity Bank Plc topped the losers table with a loss of 0.37 kobo per share.
In terms of turnover, volume traded on the Nigerian equities market dipped by 13.37 percent to 324.48 million shares, valued at N6.42 billion and traded in 4,845 deals.
“With Q1-2015 corporate earnings mostly disappointing, we expect investor sentiment to remain weighed down and as such, no market rally in view,” the Cordros report added.
