By Peter OBIORA InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Bears Tuesday resurfaced on the Nigeria bourse as the equities market declined 0.91 percent to close at 30,311.77 basis points, while market capitalisation dipped by N20 billion to N10.42 trillion.
This is coming on the heels of profit-taking activities on banks and consumer goods stocks paring the Month-to-Date (M-t-D) gain to 2.11 percent and extended the Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) loss to 12.54 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.
The update says two (2) of the five (5) Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) sectoral indices gained. It reported the Industrial index led the pack with a 3.78 percent gain following increases in shares of paint producers, Portland Paints & Products Nigeria Plc with 4.81 percent increase and cement manufacturer, Lafarge Cement WAPCO Nigeria Plc with a gain of 1.02 percent.
Cordros reported that the Insurance index followed suit with a marginal 0.38 percent appreciation via gains in shares of insurers AXA Mansard Insurance Plc with 9.79 percent gain, Continental Insurance Plc 9.30 percent and AIICO Insurance Plc with 4.71 percent growth.
The report says on the contrary, the Banking index dragged the benchmark index with a 0.85 percent depreciation led by losses in the shares of lenders, Skye Bank Plc 4.68 percent loss, Wema Bank Plc with a decline of 4.04 percent, Stanbic IBTC Bank 3.45 percent decrease and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc down with 2.49 percent amongst others.
Similarly, the Oil/Gas and Consumer Goods indices also shed 0.12 percent and 0.06 percent respectively.
At the close of today’s trading on the local bourse, market breadth posted a negative outlook; recording 19 gainers and 29 losers.
Insurer, AXA Mansard led the gainers chart with a gain of 0.23 percent per share; while metal drums and plastic containers producers Greif Nigeria Plc emerged the top loser with a loss of 0.49 percent per share.
In terms of turnover, volume traded on the Nigerian equities market climbed up by 62.50 percent to N413.88 million shares, valued at N2.36 billion and traded in 4,331 deals.
“We expect the market to maintain a downward trajectory,” the Cordros report affirmed.
