By Chinenye Anuforo
The bearish trend in the nation’s bourse got extended yesterday as 24 stocks declined as against 16 that gained, forcing the market capitalisation to close at N9.0 trillion.
In the same vein, All Share Index dropped by 0.7 per cent to close at 26, 036.24 points while year-to-date loss stood at 3.1 per cent.
Analysis of the data from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed that the sell offs in heavily capitalised stocks – Nestle, Nigerian Breweries and Guaranty Trust Bank were the major reason for the drop in performance as market.
However, after the trading session, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded grew 43.4 per cent and 265.5 per cent to 205.8 million units and N2.8 billion respectively.
The Industrial goods index was the lone gainer at the performance chart, advancing 0.6 per cent on account of gains in Wapco. On the flipside, the consumer goods index dipped the most, falling 1.4 per cent on the back of price depreciation in Nestle and NB. The banking and oil & gas indices closely trailed, sliding 1.3 per cent apiece. The Insurance Index fell 0.8 per cent as losses in Continental Insurance and Mansard pulled the index southwards.
On the price movement table, 16 stocks that advanced while 24 declined. The gainers chart was topped by Unilever, Afriprud and Caverton while PZ, Oando and Continental Insurance led the losers list.
Analysts with Afrinvest Limited explained thatfollowing two consecutive days of declines, investors could start to take advantage of some bargain opportunities, hence the current downtrend is expected to be reversed in the trading sessions ahead.