By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-Sentiments remained dampened on Thursday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as benchmark index slumped 0.10 percent to close at 28,703.09 points, while market capitalisation fell by N9.39 billion to N9.86 trillion.
“Today’s proceedings increased the Month-to-Date loss to 3.02 percent and cut the Year-to-Date gain to 0.21 percent,” Cordros daily market update affirmed.
This is coming on the heels of selloffs across key Banking, Industrial Goods and Insurance counters.
At the close of Thursday’s session on the domestic bourse, Cordros reports that the Banking and Insurance indices depreciated by 1.45 percent and 0.62 percent apiece, following price declines in the shares of Nigeria’s tier one lenders Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Zenith Bank Plc by 2.94 percent and 0.92 percent each, while insurers, Axa Mansard Insurance Plc and AIICO Insurance Plc dropped by 2.33 percent and 3.85 percent respectively.
Similarly, cablemaker, Cutix Plc lost 4.71 percent driving down the Industrial Goods index southward by 0.01 percent.
On the positive side, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices appreciated by 0.40 percent and 1.33 percent each, on the buying interest showed in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier beermaker, Nigerian Breweries Plc and soap and detergent producer, Unilever Nigeria Plc each gaining 0.71 percent and 5.00 percent respectively. Oil marketing firm, Forte Oil Plc also gained 5.00 percent and shares in Eterna Plc appreciated 4.80 percent.
At the end of the session on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth remained negative, with 16 gainers and 22 losers reported. Financial services firm, United Capital Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.24 kobo; while lender, Skye Bank Plc topped the losers chart for the fourth consecutive day with a loss of 0.06 kobo per share to close the day.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market inched up by 6.98 percent to 203.58 million shares, valued at N2.49 billion, and traded in 3,805 deals.
“In the absence of positive earnings releases, we expect investor appetite to remain weakened in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros daily market update added.
