Sell pressure on high capitalised stocks drove the Nigerian equities market down by 0.71 percent at the end of yesterday’s trading session.
The All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 162.12 absolute points, representing a dip of 0.71 per cent to close at 22,543.07 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation size shed N84 billion to close at N11.748 trillion
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, CAP Plc, Ardova Plc, NASCON Allied Industries (NASCON) and International Breweries.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said “We expect the bearish sentiment to persist for the rest of the week. However, we note that there are opportunities for bargain hunting.”
Market breadth closed positive, with 27 gainers versus 12 losers. Access Bank, Lafarge Africa, and United Capital recorded the highest price gain of 10 percent each, to close at N6.05, N11.00 and N2.42, per share, respectively. FCMB Group followed with a gain of 9.66 percent to close at N1.59, while Cadbury Nigeria and Caverton Offshore Support Group rose by 9.62 percent each, to close N5.70 and N2.28, respectively, per share.
Transnational Corporation of Nigeria went up by 9.52 percent to close at 69 kobo, while NPF Microfinance Bank rose by 9.41 percent to close at 93 kobo, per share. On the other hand, Dangote Cement and NASCON led the losers’ chart by 10 percent each, to close at N137.70 and N8.55, respectively per share. Ardova Plc followed with a decline of 9.80 percent to close at N13.80, while CAP Plc fell by 9.77 percent to close at N18, per share.
International Breweries went down by 9.57 to close at N5.20, while Lasaco Assurance, Niger Insurance and Courteville Business Solutions shed 9.09 percent each, to close at 20 kobo each, per share.
Also, the total volume of trades rose by 22.6 percent to 675.91 million units, valued at N8.06 billion and exchanged in 7,368 deals. Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 173.94 million shares valued at N2.32 billion. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 131.06 million shares worth N2.57 billion, while FBN Holdings traded 119.27 million shares valued at N478.91 million.
Access Bank traded 92.03 million shares valued at N539.13 million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) transacted 31.47 million shares worth N168.89 million.
