By Kanyinsola A.A
Nigeria’s equities market capitalisation slide to N13.34 trillion
At the close of market, the domestic equities market closed in the red as the All Share Index (ASI) shed 66 basis points ,bps, to settle at 27,425.57 points on the back of sell offs in DANGCEM (-1.8%), MTNN(-1.5%) and UNILEVER(-3.5%).
Consequently, investors lost N88.3 billion in value as market capitalisation declined to N13.34 trillion while year to date (YTD) loss worsened to -12.7%.
However, activity level declined as volume and value traded ebbed lower by 11.0% and 45.1% respectively to 116.1 million units and N1.7 billion.
The most active stocks by volume were ZENITH (19.1 million units), WAPCO (17.7 million units) and ACCESS (15.0 million units) while DANGCEM (N353.7 million), ZENITH (N353.5 million) and WAPCO (N250.7 million) were the top stocks by value traded.
Across sectors, performance was mixed as 3 of 6 indices under Afrinvest coverage declined. The Insurance index led gainers, up 1.8% following sustained gains in CONTINSURE (+9.8%) and MBENEFIT (+0.2%).
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The Oil & Gas and Banking indices trailed, advancing 0.1% apiece due to buying interest in FORTE (+6.8%), TOTAL (+0.6%), FBNH (+3.1%), UBA (+1.7%) and GUARANTY (+0.2%).
On the flip side, the Industrial Goods index led laggards, down 0.7% on the back of price weakness in DANGCEM (-1.8%).
Similarly, the AFR-ICT and Consumer Goods indices fell 0.9% and 0.2% respectively following profit taking in MTNN (-1.5%), UNILEVER (-3.5%) and FLOURMILL (-5.6%).
Investor sentiment strengthened as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) increased to 1.3x from 1.0x recorded in the previous session consequent on 18 stocks advancing relative to 14 that declined.
CONTINSURE (+9.8%), AFRIPRUD (+8.6%) and FORTE (+6.8%) were the best performing stocks while UACN (-9.0%), FLOURMILL (-5.6%) and UAC-PROP (-5.4%) were the least performing stocks.
“In line with our expectations, the equities market posted a bearish performance today and we expect this to continue in the absence of a major economic stimulus”, Afrinvest stated.
Nigeria’s equities market capitalisation slide to N13.34 trillion
