Chinwendu Obienyi
Trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), turned negative yesterday as renewed sell pressure in stocks sent the All-Share Index (ASI) down by 0.14 per cent to close at 32,108.30 points.
However, a significant deal in the shares of Zenith Bank (252 million units at N23.85) shares led to a 236.45 per cent spike in total value of trades to N9.39 billion, and a surge in total volume of trades by 200.79 per cent to 450.14 million units while total deals stood at 2,858.
As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses increased to 1.10 and 16.04 per cent, respectively while market capitalization decreased by N16 billion from N11.738 trillion to N11.722 trillion.
All sectoral indices – Industrial Goods (-2.34 per cent), Insurance (-2.05 per cent), Oil & Gas (-0.16 per cent), and Consumer Goods (-0.09 per cent) — closed negative, save for the Banking index which inched up 0.19 per cent.
Market breadth was however positive with 18gainers and 17 losers. Niger Insurance topped the gainers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at 0.22 kobo, NPF Microfinance Bank was next with 9.63 per cent to close at N1.48, Fidson notched up 8.89 per cent to close at N4.90, Uniondac gained 8 percent to close at 0.27 kobo while Lasaco increased by 7.41 per cent to close at 0.29 kobo per share.
On the flipside, AIICO topped the losers’ chart with 9.68 per cent to close at 0.64 kobo per share. Wapco followed with a decline of 9.77 per cent to N15.70, Mutual Benefits fell by 7.41 per cent to close at 0.25 kobo, Jaiz Bank depreciated 6.12 per cent to close at 0.46 kobo while NEM lost 5.34 per cent to close at N2.48 per share.
Analysts at Cordros Capital Limited said, “We reiterate our negative outlook for the equities market in the short to medium term, amidst political concerns ahead of the 2019 elections, and the absence of a positive market trigger. However, positive macroeconomic fundamentals remain supportive of recovery in the long term”.