Downward trend continues as stocks lose N16bn

The domestic equities market sustained the previous day’s  loss as the All-Share Index fell marginally by seven basis points (bps) to close at 41,051.63 points due to sell-offs in BUA Cement (-1.1 per cent), Access (-3.7%), and UBA (-2.2%).

As a result, the year to date return fell to 1.9% while market capitalisation declined by ₦16.1 billion to settle at ₦21.5 trillion.

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Activity level was mixed as volume traded fell 28.9% to 525 million units while value traded rose 27.9% to ₦5.3bn.

The most traded stocks by volume were Transcorp (42.9m units), Zenith (28.5m units), and BUA Cement (25.7m units) while BUA Cement (₦2bn), Zenith (₦746.0m), and Guaranty (₦348.8m) topped by value.

Performance across sectors was mixed as 3 indices lost, 2 gained and one closed flat.

Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth strengthened to 2.2x from the 1.7x recorded previously as 43 stocks advanced against 20 decliners.

WAPIC (+10.0%), Afromedia (+10.0%) and NEM (+10.0%) were the best-performing tickers while Ardova (-8.6%), Honeyflour (-8.3%) and FTN cocoa (-8.3%) were the losers.