By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The bears on Wednesday sustained its hold on the domestic bourse for two-straight days as the all-share index (ASI) fell by 0.04 percent to close at 28236.23 points.
“Today’s decline further reduced the Month-to-Date gains to 2.39 percent and increased the Year-to-Date loss to 1.42 percent,” according to Cordros daily market update.
The report says that the Oil & Gas and Industrial Goods indices declined 0.38 percent and 1.01 percent each, following sell-offs in the shares of oil marketers, Total Nigeria Plc and Oando Plc both dipping by 2.75 percent and 7.71 percent apiece. While cement producers, Lafarge Cement Wapco Plc and Ashaka Cement Plc dropped by 2.02 percent and 4.99 percent respectively.
The Banking index also declined, owing to negative interest in the shares of Nigeria’s top tier lenders, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc both depreciating by 0.36 percent and 1.27 percent each.
On the flipside, gains were recorded in the Consumer Goods and Insurance indices by 0.30 percent and 0.28 percent each, following positive interest in the shares of beer producer, Nigerian Breweries Plc and Dangote sugar Refinery Plc both gaining 1.36 percent and 1.56 percent respectively; while insurers, AIICO Insurance Plc and African Prudential Insurance Plc gained 3.28 percent and 1.90 percent apiece.
At the close of the session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), market breadth was negative, with 22 gainers and 23 losers recorded, according to data from the NSE. Insurance company, Law Union & Rock Insurance Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.06 percent and Oando topped the losers chart with a loss of 0.41 percent.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market declined by 46.07 percent to 159.00 million shares, valued at N1.45 billion, and exchanged in 3,237 deals.
“With no significant positive catalyst on the horizon, we expect selloffs to persist in the coming session,” the Cordros update affirmed.
