Charles Abuede
The Nigerian Equities Market started the new week on a bearish note, with traders and investors alike coming back from the short Easter break to extend the persistent bearish run the market has been experiencing into the fourth trading session as investors lost N78.5 billion on the first trading day in April.
The local bourse resumed the week with a loss due to sell-offs in GTBank (-3.3%), BUA Cement (-1.1%), and Guinness Nigeria Plc (-8.1%). Consequently, the All-Share Index declined by 0.39 per cent to settle at 38,766.6 points with the market year to date loss worsening to -3.7 –per cent and market capitalisation decreased to N20.28 trillion from N20.36 trillion as on the last close. Read Also:
Similarly, the level of trading activity declined as volume and value exchanged plunged 6.2 per cent and 7.4 per cent respectively to 224.6 million units and N2.1 billion. The most traded stocks by volume were UAC Nigeria (34.0m units), Access Bank (26.3m units), and First Bank Holding (18.9m units) while Zenith Bank (N364.3m), GTBank (N338.6m), and UAC Nigeria (N337.6m) led by value.
Across the sectoral fronts of the market, the performance was bearish as 5 out of 6 indicators closed negative and the ICT index closing flat. The Banking index led the laggards, down 1.7 per cent due to sell-offs in Sterling Bank (-8.7%), GTBank (-3.3%) and Zenith Bank (-0.9%). On the same note, the Industrial goods and Insurance indices declined by 0.5 per cent apiece on the back of sell-offs in BUA Cement (-1.1%), Wapco Plc (-0.7%), Aiico Insurance (-3.2%) and Custodian Insurance Plc (-1.4%). Similarly, the Consumer goods and Oil & Gas indices fell by 0.4 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively as we saw some price depreciation in Guinness Nigeria Plc (-8.1%), International Breweries (-8.7%), and Oando Plc (-3.1%).
Elsewhere, the investor sentiment, as measured by market breadth weakened to 0.7x from the 0.8x recorded previously as 14 stocks gained against 21 decliners. Eterna Plc (+9.9%), Linkage Assurance (+9.7%) and Royal Exchange (+9.1%) were the top gainers while MRS Oil (-9.9%), ALEX (-9.9%) and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance Plc (-9.4%) were the top decliners.
The NSE 30
On Tuesday, the NSE 30 Index decreased by 0.50 per cent to close at 1,540.80 points as against 1,548.58 points as on the previous day. Market turnover closed with a traded volume of 126.43 million units. FCMB and First Bank Holding were […]
