By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)- The Nigerian Stock Exchange succumbed to bear pressure on Wednesday as the all-share index (ASI) declined 1.09 percent to close at 25,736.92 points, while market capitalisation fell by N97.49 billion to N8.85 trillion.
This is coming on the heels of profit-taking activities across major counters on the Nigerian bourse cutting the Month-to-Date gain to 4.75 percent and increased the Year-to-Date loss to 10.14 percent, according to Cordros daily market update.
At the close of today’s trading, the Industrial Goods, Banking and Insurance indices depreciated by 1.98 percent. 1.52 percent and 1.23 percent respectively; following the poor performance recorded in the shares of most capitalised listed company and cement producer, Dangote Cement Plc by 2.38 percent, Nigeria’s top tier lender, Zenith Bank Plc by 2.79 percent and insurer, AIICO Insurance Plc by 2.35 percent.
Similarly, the Oil & Gas sector dropped 0.78 percent owing to price declines in the shares of oil marketing company, Mobil Nigeria Plc by 4.64 percent and first dual listed Nigerian oil and gas upstream firm, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc by 0.65 percent.
On the flipside, the Consumer Goods index which remained resilient emerged the sole gainer climbing up by 0.96 percent on the back of a sustained rally in the shares of beermaker, Nigerian Breweries Plc by 4.04 percent.
Market breadth at the close of business on the Nigerian bourse was significantly negative, with nine (9) gainers and 32 losers posted.
According to the NSE’s daily market statistics, aviation cargo, aircraft handling and passenger facilitation company, Nigerian Aviation Handling Company Plc (NAHCO Aviance) emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.19 kobo per share; while Cadbury Nigeria Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of N1.67 per share to close the session
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market, climbed up by 15.74 percent to 398.28 million shares worth N2.65 billion and traded in 3,581 deals.
“With no positive catalyst on the horizon, we opine that profit-taking will continue in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update affirmed.
