At the close of equities trading on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) yesterday, the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.09 per cent amid sustained sell pressure.
The NSE-ASI shed 33.98 absolute points, representing a decline of 0.09 per cent to close at 36,299.82 points, while year-to-date loss worsened to 5.08 per cent, lowest since October 5, 2017. Also, the market capitalisation declined by N12 billion to close at N13.250 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Total Nigeria, Cutix, Oando, Guaranty Trust Bank and Eterna.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “yesterday, we noticed weak activity level in the market as well as increased trading activity in penny stocks, indicating waning investor interest in bellwethers given their weak half year, 2018 earnings. We project a further bearish performance tomorrow as the Relative Strength Index, currently at 34.75, breaches the oversold threshold.”
However, market breadth closed positive, with 19 gainers versus 16 losers. Unity Bank recorded the highest price gain of 9.30 per cent, to close at 94 kobo per share. Sovereign Trust Insurance gained 8.70 per cent to close at 25 kobo, while Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals appreciated by 8.45 per cent to close at 77 kobo per share.
Red Star Express appreciated by 6.54 per cent to close at N5.70, while UAC Property gained 5.88 per cent to close at N1.80 per share.
On the other hand, Mutual Benefit Assurance led the losers’ chart by 9.68 per cent, to close at 28 kobo per share. Secure Electronic Technology followed with a loss of 9.09 per cent to close at 30 kobo, while Union Diagnostic & Clinical Services shed 7.69 per cent to close at 36 kobo, per share.
Cutix declined by 5.88 per cent to close at N4 and Oando shed 4.39 per cent to close at N5.45 per share.
The total volume traded declined by 54.03 per cent to 114.04 million shares, worth N730.08 million, and traded in 2,610 deals. Transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA) topped the activity chart with 21.39 million shares valued at N205.21 million. Sovereign Trust Insurance followed with 14.13 million shares worth N3.4 million, while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) traded 8.37 million shares valued at N10.02 million.
Zenith Bank traded 7.86 million shares valued at N186.58 million, while Regency Alliance Insurance transacted 5.56 million shares worth N1.34 million.
