By InvestAdvocate
Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian equities market on Monday resumed the week on a negative note as the all-share index (ASI) shed 0.83 percent to close at 25,587.09 points.
“Today’s negative proceedings increased the Month-to Date and Year-to-Date losses to 1.73 percent and 4.79 percent respectively, according to reports from Cordros daily market update.
The update says the Banking, Industrial Goods, Insurance and Oil & Gas indices dipped 0.96 percent, 0.85 percent, 0.95 percent and 0.52 percent apiece; with some of the stocks that drove losses being Zenith Bank Plc and Access Bank Plc declining 1.48 percent and 2.21 percent each to drag the Banking index, while cement producer and Nigeria’s most capitalised listed company, Dangote Cement Plc and cablemaker, Cutix Plc both lost by 1.78 percent and 1.90 percent each to weigh down on the Industrial Goods sector.
In the same vein, insurers, Wapic Insurance Plc and Axa Mansard Insurance Plc dropped 1.96 percent and 4.61 percent respectively to impact negatively on the Insurance index; while oil marketing firms, Total Nigeria Plc and Forte Oil Plc closed lower by 2.24 percent and 0.41 percent each to drag the Oil & Gas sector.
The Consumer Goods index closed positively by 0.02 percent and emerged the lone gainer to buck the trend, bolstered by gains recorded in the shares of sugar refiner, Dangote Sugar Refinery Plc and beer producer, Nigerian Breweries Plc; both gaining 0.67 percent and 0.29 percent each.
At the close of the session on the Nigerian bourse, market breadth posted a negative outlook with eight (8) gainers and 25 losers recorded, according to data from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).
United Capital Plc emerged the top most gainer with a gain of 0.17 kobo per share; while UACN Property Development Company Plc came out as the top most loser with a loss of 0.23 kobo per share.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market at the close of the session increased by 5.88 percent to 152.40 million shares, valued at N903.53 million and exchanged in 2,706 deals.
“We expect corporate earnings release to drive activity in this space,” the Cordros report affirmed.
