By Yakubu LAAH InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-In spite of the positive momentum in Thursday’s early trades, the Nigerian bourse closed lower for the second day in a row as the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) all-share index (ASI) shed 0.66 percent to settle at 27,044.36 points, with corresponding market capitalisation of N9.28 trillion.
According to InvestmentOne report, this performance was largely influenced by sell-offs in the shares of cement producer and Nigeria’s most capitalised listed company Dangote Cement Plc which declined by 127.50 points, as well as price depreciations the shares of beer producer Nigerian Breweries Plc and pan African lender, Ecobank Transnational Incorporated both losing 49.40 points and 20.30 points respectively.
This offset the gains in the shares of top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and United Bank for Africa Plc which gained by 26.51 points and 4.30 point each; while soap and detergent manufacturer, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc appreciated by 2.89 points.
The report says value turnover however saw significant improvement as investors exchanged over 112 million units of stocks valued at cN2.36 billion in 2,684 deals. “This represented 87 percent jump in value turnover while volume of trades declined by 44 percent.
In same vein, market breadth index (-0.04x) slipped into the negative territory as 20 stocks closed lower against 17 stocks that gained, according to data from the NSE.
Honeywell flour Mills Plc emerged the top gainer with a gain of 0.09 kobo per share; while cement producer, Ashaka Cement Plc topped the losers list with a loss of N1.19 kobo per share to close the trading session.
InvestmentOne report affirmed that the performance of sectoral indices was dismal. A 1.87 percent decline in NB dragged the Consumer Goods tracker lower by 0.65 percent; while Industrial Goods shed 0.82 percent following decline in DANGCEM. The Oil &Gas tracker also closed lower by 0.07 percent, while the Banking index emerged the lone gainer with a gain of 0.12 percent.
“Going forward, we are likely to see the equities market remain bearish as a result of the less than inspiring Q3 2016 results and the weak macro-economic environment. However, we advise discerning investors to take advantage of the current downtrend to build positions in quality names over a medium to longer term horizon,” the InvestmentOne report affirmed.
