The local stock market continued the week on a bearish note today, as the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.66 percent to close at 98,058.07 basis points.
At the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Tuesday, profit-taking activities, with Transnational Corporation, Access Holdings and BUA Cement weighing down the bourse as these high capitalised stocks dipped in value by 7.4 percent, 4.7 percent and 1.0 percent, respectively.
Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns settled at -0.5 percent and +31.1 percent, respectively.
This downturn was matched by a 0.66 percent decrease in market capitalisation, which settled at N59.42 trillion, leading to investor losses of N394.4 billion amid increased sell-offs.
Despite the overall negative sentiment, 26 stocks posted gains, while 32 recorded losses.
On the performance table, the top gainers included Northern Nigeria Flour Mills, Eunisell Interlinked, The Initiates Plc, Livestock Feeds and Computer Warehouse Group having appreciated in share value by 10.00 percent, 9.87 percent, 9.81 percent, 7.73 percent, and 4.96 percent, respectively.
In contrast, Cadbury Nigeria, Academy Press, Royal Exchange, Aradel Holdings and Sovereign Insurance led the decliners as their share values depleted by 9.89 percent, 9.87 percent, 9.72 percent, 8.33 percent and 8.06 percent, respectively.
At the NGX on Tuesday, sector performance was mixed, with the banking, consumer goods, and industrial goods sectors recording declines by 1.46 percent, 0.01 percent and 0.33 percent, respectively, while the insurance and oil/gas sectors posted modest gains of 0.18 percent and 0.03 percent, respectively.
Trading activity was robust, with increases of 1.38 percent, 13.06 percent, and 96.08 peecent in the number of deals, volume, and value, respectively. In total, 399.32 million shares were traded across 9,547 deals, amounting to N8.93 billion.
United Bank for Africa led in trading volume, with 90 million units valued at N2.61 billion over 848 deal.
ALSO READ THESE TOP STORIES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
and then