Price losses recorded by some companies in the petroleum marketing subsector, especially MRS and Eterna oil yesterday dragged the All-Share Index (ASI) by 0.01 per cent.
Specifically, at the close of transactions yesterday on the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX), the ASI declined by 6.14 per cent, representing a decrease of 0.01 per cent, to close at 42,388.57 points.
Similarly, the overall market capitalisation value lost N3 billion to close at N22.126 trillion.
The negative performance was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks which are; MRS Oil Nigeria, Eterna, Zenith Bank, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria and Learn Africa.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said, “In the next trading session, we expect an extended bearish performance on waning investor sentiment and profit-taking.”
Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage firm said: “With general sentiments still tilted towards the bears, we foresee another mixed session as investors continue to snap up attractive counters, while a slight recovery is expected in the banking space.”
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was positive as 21 stocks gained relative to 15 losers.
On the price movement chart, Eterna led the losers’ chart by 9.91 per cent to close at N5.
MRS Oil Nigeria followed with a decline of 9.85 per cent to close at N12.35 kobo while Japaul Gold and Ventures lost 7.69 per cent to close at 36 kobo.
Learn Africa declined by 7.14 per cent to close at N1.17 kobo while FTN Cocoa processors shed 4.76 per cent to close at 40 kobo.
On the other hand, Meyer Plc recorded the highest price gain of 9.52 per cent to close at 46 kobo while Consolidated Hallmark Insurance followed with a gain of 9.26 per cent to close at 59 kobo. CAP rose by 6.87 per cent to close at N19.45 kobo.Academy Press was up by 6.38 per cent to close at 50 kobo while Lasaco Assurance appreciated by 5.77 per cent to close at N1.10 kobo.The total volume traded increased by 94.1 per cent to 275.931 million units, valued at N3.935 billion, and exchanged in 3,489 deals.Transactions in the shares of UACN topped the activity chart with 75.880 million shares valued at N720.791 million.FBN Holdings (FBNH) followed with 68.559 million shares worth N836.406 million, while United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 16.723 million shares valued at N133.783 million.Stanbic IBTC Holdings traded 13.316 million shares valued at N478.720 million, while Courteville Business Solutions transacted 7.10 million shares worth N2.662 million.
