By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Bears on Tuesday sustained its hold on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as all-share index (ASI) dropped 0.29 percent to close at 29,052.85 basis points, while market capitalisation decreased by N28.86 billion to close at N9.98 trillion.
Cordros daily market update says today’s performance came on the heels of declines in banking stocks which extended the Month-to-Date (M-t-D) and Year-to-Date (Y-t-D) losses to 0.43 percent and 15.93 percent respectively.
The update affirmed that three (3) of the five (5) sector indices recorded losses. It added that declines in the shares of lenders, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc by 2.33 percent, Zenith Bank Plc with a dip of 1.06 percent and financial services giant FBN Holdings Plc dropping 1.19 percent led the Banking index to top the losers chart with a loss of 1.76 percent.
The report says in addition, the Consumer Goods with decline of 0.24 percent and Insurance 0.25 percent decrease came on the losses recorded in the shares of soap and detergent maker, Unilever Nigeria Plc by 4.98 percent, beverage producer, Cadbury Nigeria Plc with a loss of 4.96, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc down by 2.96 percent.
Also, Continental Re-Insurance Plc depreciated by 3.00 percent and Custodian and Allied Insurance Plc dropped by 2.38 percent.
On the contrary, Cordros reports that gains were evident in the Oil/Gas and Industrial sectors climbing up by 0.54 percent and 0.29 percent respectively following increases in the shares of Oando Plc by 8.86 percent, Portland Paints & Products Nigeria Plc with a gain of 4.75 percent and Dangote Cement Plc appreciating by 0.62 percent.
At the close of today’s trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth maintained a negative outlook with 14 gainers and 28 losers recorded.
Publishers, Learn Africa Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.06 kobo per share; while Ikeja Hotels Plc topped the losers table with a loss of 0.17 kobo per share to close the session.
In terms of turnover, volume traded on the Nigerian equities market decreased by 45.88 percent to 166.76 million shares worth N1.12 billion in 3,287 deals.
“We expect losses to continue in the next session,’ the Cordros update affirmed.
