By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The bears on Thursday returned to the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as the all-share index (ASI) dipped by 0.51 percent to close at 27,280.95 points.
“Today’s negative close increased the Month-to-Date and Year-to- Date losses to 2.60 percent and 4.75 percent respectively,” according to the Cordros daily market update.
The report affirmed that the Banking and Industrial Goods indices climbed down by 1.71 percent and 1.06 percent each, on the back of selloffs in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc; both losing 2.50 percent and 1.19 percent respectively; while chemical producer, Chemical & Allied Products Plc and cement manufacturer, Lafarge Cement Wapco Plc lost by 5.00 percent and 2.50 percent apiece.
Cordros says that following suit are the Oil and Gas and Consumer Goods indices both declining by 0.37 percent and 2.79 percent each, owing to respective price depreciations recorded by the oil marketers, Oando Plc and Total Nigeria Plc by 4.91 percent and 2.50 percent each. Brewer, Nigerian Breweries Plc and soft drink maker, SevenUp Bottling Company Plc dropped by 0.77 percent and 4.88 percent each.
On the positive side, the Insurance index gained by 0.02 percent, following buying interest in the shares of insurer, AIICO Insurance Plc by 1.52 percent.
At the close of the session’s trading on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth remained negative, with 14 gainers and 24 losers posted, according to the daily market statistics made available by the NSE. Beermaker, International Breweries Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of N1.12, while lender, Diamond Bank Plc topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.12 kobo per share to close the trading session.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded fell by 37.76 percent to 243.61 million shares, valued at N2.56 billion, and exchanged hands in 3,647 deals.
“With no positive catalyst on the horizon, we expect bearish sentiments to be sustained in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros update added.
