By InvestAdvocate
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Lagos (INVESTADVOCATE)-The Nigerian equities market on Wednesday closed lower, driven by selloffs in major industrial goods stocks. The All Share Index shed 0.57 percent to close at 24,986.02 points.
“Today’s bearish proceedings increased the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses to 1.35 percent and 7.03 percent respectively, according to Cordros daily market update.
The report said ironically, following Tuesday’s stellar gain, the Industrial Goods index declined 3.47 percent and suffered the biggest loss, driven by selloffs in the shares of cement manufacturers, Ashaka Cement Plc and Dangote Cement Plc both depreciated by 7.91 percent and 2.85 percent apiece.
According to Cordros, the Banking and Oil & Gas indices declined 0.12 percent and 2.52 percent each, as investors liquidated their holdings in the shares of top tier lenders, Zenith Bank Plc and Guaranty Trust Bank Plc both dipped by 0.68 percent and 0.31 percent respectively. While first listed Nigerian oil and gas upstream firm, Seplat Petroleum Development Company Plc and Forte Oil Plc dropped 5.00 percent and 4.99 percent respectively.
On the positive side, gains recorded in the shares of soap and detergent producer, Unilever Nigeria Plc and top brewer, Nigerian Breweries Plc by 5.00 percent and 4.99 percent bolstered the Consumer Goods index by 3.01 percent, while the Insurance Index closed flat.
At the close of the trading session on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), market breadth remained negative, with 10 gainers and 16 losers declared, according to data from the NSE. UNILEVER emerged the topmost gainer with a gain of N1.40 per share; while Eterna Plc became the topmost loser with a loss of 0.31 kobo per share.
In terms of turnover, total volume traded on the Nigerian equities market increased marginally by 1.56 percent to 218.72 million shares, valued at N3.90 billion, and exchanged in 3,191 deals.
“We expect selloffs to persist in tomorrow’s session,” the Cordros report affirmed.
