By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian equities market on Wednesday remained bearish closing slightly lower 0.01 percent on lackluster investment activities, according to Cowry Asset research.
At the close of today’s trading on the domestic bourse, all-share index (ASI) closed at 24,637.91 points, while market capitalisation eased by N541.22 million to N8.47 trillion.
“Today’s activities increased the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses to 2.64 percent and 13.98 percent respectively, Cordros daily market update affirmed.
The update says the Insurance and Consumer Goods indices shed weight 0.65 percent and 0.45 percent apiece, owing to losses in the shares of insurer, AIICO Insurance Plc and food and beverage producer, Nestle Nigeria Plc by 4.00 percent and 4.44 percent respectively.
In the same vein, the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods sectors declined 0.17 percent and 0.13 percent apiece on the back of respective sell-offs in the shares of oil marketing major, Mobil Nigeria Plc and Cutix Plc by 7.40 percent and 4.93 percent each.
On the positive side, the Banking index however bucked the negative trend with a gain of 0.85 percent, as investors remained upbeat about the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc, Zenith Bank Plc and financial HoldCo FBN Holdings Plc all gained 4.36 percent, 0.92 percent and 0.29 percent respectively.
Cordros reports that at the close of today’s transaction on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), market breadth turned negative, with 16 gainers and 20 losers posted, according to the NSE’s daily market statistics.
Oando Plc topped the gainers chart with a gain of 0.26 kobo per share; while Mobil emerged the highest loser with a loss of N11.99 per share to close the session
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market fell by 97.66 percent to 162.47 million shares worth N1.02 billion and traded in 3,079 deals.
“With today’s loss being marginal (and indicative of improved investor appetite), we expect the bulls to dominate in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update added.
