NSE Goes South as Equities Investors Take Profits.
The equities segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continues the bearish run for the second day in the week.
Today, the All-Share index lost 9 basis points (bps) to close at 24,930.88 points due to price declines in MTNN (-0.9%), FLOURMILL (-6.7%) and FBNH (-1.9%).
As a result, market capitalisation fell by ₦12.2 billion to settle at ₦13 trillion.
Then, year to date loss worsened to -7.1%.
Meanwhile, activity level weakened as volume and value traded declined 15.7% and 1.5% respectively to 200.4 million units and ₦1.6 billion.
The most active stocks by volume were FBNH which traded 26.9 million units, ZENITH 22.6 million units and FCMB did 21.3 million units.
However, ZENITH led the value chart with ₦368.5 million, GUARANTY ₦272 million and MTNN traded ₦170 million.
Afrinvest said performance across sectors was bearish as only the Industrial Goods index (+1.0%) appreciated as a result of gains in BUACEMENT (+1.6%).
The Insurance (-2.1%) and Oil & Gas (-0.6%) indices led the laggards due to price weakness in AIICO (-9.4%), PRESTIGE (-9.5%), OANDO (-2.8%) and ARDOVA (-4.5%).
The AFR-ICT (-0.5%) and Consumer Goods (-0.2%) indices also declined, following price declines in MTNN (-0.9%) and FLOURMILL (-6.7%).
To sum up, the Banking index (-0.1%) declined on the back of losses in ZENITH (-0.6%) and FIDELITY (-1.1%).
Meanwhile, investor sentiment as measured by market breadth declined to 0.5x from the 0.6x recorded in the previous session as 12 stocks advanced against 22 decliners.
The best performing stocks were FIDSON (+10.0%), CAVERTON (+7.4%) and HONEYFLOUR (+6.9%).
On the loser’s chart, NEIMETH shed 9.9%, PRESTIGE fell 9.5% and CILEASING depreciated by 9.4%.
“We expect profit-taking activities to dominate market performance this week”, Afrinvest stated.
NSE Goes South as Equities Investors Take Profits by Julius Alagbe – editor@dmarketforces.com
