Trading on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continues its negative streak as investors lost ₦457 billion, forcing market capitalization to drop to ₦11.8trillion on Thursday.
Price depreciation in shares of MTNN (-10.0percent), Guaranty (-9.1percent) and Zenith (-10.0percent) dragged the All-Share Index down to 22,695.88 points, while the year to date (YTD) loss worsened to -15.4percent.
Activity level declined as volume and value traded fell 23.9percent and 44.4percent to 1.1billion units and ₦9.8billion respectively.
The most actively traded stocks by volume were Zenith (433.2million units), UBA (371.3million units) and Guaranty (62.2million units) while Zenith (₦4.7billion), UBA (₦2.1billion) and Guaranty (₦1.1billion) led by value.
Performance across sectors was bearish as indices closed southward. The Banking index lost the most, down 8.5percent, due to sell-offs in Zenith (-10.0percent), Access (-9.3percent) and Guaranty (-9.1percent).
Likewise, the AFR-ICT (-5.3percent) and Insurance (-5.2percent) indices declined, following sell pressures in MTNN (-10.0percent), Mansard (-9.6percent) and NEM (-8.6percent).
The Consumer and Industrial Goods indices trailed behind, as it was down by 2.7percent and 0.9percent respectively, following price depreciation in Nigerian Breweries (-10.0percent), Flourmill (-10.0percent) and WAPCO (-9.7percent).
Also, a 10.0percent decline in Oando dragged the Oil & Gas index down by 0.8percent.
Investors’ sentiment as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.05x from the 0.9x recorded in Wednesday’s trading session as only 2 stocks advanced against 44 decliners.
The best performing stocks were Caverton (+10.0percent) and Stanbic (+3.4percent) while UPL (-10.0percent), Flourmill (-10.0percent) and Nigerian Breweries (-10.0percent) led the laggards.
