Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) sustained the previous day’s loss as the benchmark index declined 34bps to close at 24,117.40 points following price depreciation in Guaranty Trust Bank (-3.2 per cent), Zenith Bank (-3.7 per cent) and Access Bank (-3.2 per cent).
Consequently, investors lost N44.9bn as market capitalisation fell to N12.6tn while year-to-date loss worsened to -10.2 per cent.
Activity level waned as volume and value traded declined 10.0 per cent and 50.9 per cent to 208.2m units and N1.1bn respectively.
The most active stocks by volume were Sterling Bank (78.9m units), UBA (15.8m units) and Japaul Oil (12.8m units), while GTB (N222.9m), Zenith (N167.1m) and Sterling (N98.6m) led by value.
Performance across sectors under our coverage was bullish as three of six indices advanced, one lost, while oil and gas and AFR-ICT indices remained unchanged.
The banking index was the lone laggard, shedding 2.8 per cent due to sell pressures in Zenith (-3.7 per cent), GTB (-3.2 per cent) and Access (-3.2 per cent).
On the other hand, buying interest in Unilever (+9.6 per cent) and BUA Cement (+0.6 per cent) buoyed gains in the consumer (+0.4 per cent) and industrial (+0.3 per cent) goods indices respectively while the insurance index rose marginally by 0.1 per cent due to price appreciation in Regal Insurance (+4.6 per cent) and NEM (+0.5 per cent).
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth fell to 0.5x from the 0.8x recorded in the previous session as eight stocks advanced against the 15 decliners.
The top gainers were Unilever (+9.6 per cent), CHAMS (+4.5 per cent) and Regal Insurance (+4.5 per cent), while ARBICO (-9.9 per cent), Glaxosmith (-9.4 per cent) and ABC Transport (-9.1 per cent) lost the most.
Analysts at Afrinvest said, “We continue to see sell pressures dominate the market as investor sentiment remains weak. Hence, we expect a mixed performance for the week.”
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