Equities market maintains bearish moments amidst low turnover

The Nigerian Equities Market extends negative moments to close the third trading session of the week in the red region, amidst low turnover.

Basically, on Wednesday, the All Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) shed nine basis points (bps) to settle at 49,635.75 bps as against its previous close of 49,644.42bps, while the market activity measured by volume and value of stocks traded dipped by 7.23 per cent and 38.79 per cent respectively.

This outing fixed both the month-to-date and year-to-date performance of the All-Share Index to -0.40 per cent and 16.20 per cent from their previous close of -0.38 per cent and 16.22 per cent respectively.

Market Capitalization followed suit the direction of the ASI to stand at N26.753 trillion, representing a 0.09 per cent drop from the N26.778 trillion it stood at the end of the previous trading session as investors’ net worth waned by N25 billion in the session.

Bears’ and bears’ camps wrangled over the market breadth with 16 counters apices in both the losers’ and gainers’ charts.

PZ gained 9.76 per cent to become the best-performing stock in the session. It is flanked by NPF Microfinance Bank, UACN, ABC Transport and Japaul Gold as they populated the top five gainers’ chart. From the rear of the chart CHAMS, FCMB Group, MCNICHOLS, FTN Cocoa and Cornerstone Insurance populated the top five losers’ chart.

Key sectoral indices closed in the same direction as the ASI, save NGXCG and NGX Consumer Goods sectors which gained 0.03 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively, while NGX Industry and NGX ASEM sectors closed flat.

Market activity as measured by both volume and value of trades waned in the session with daily traded volume standing at 128.941 million units, representing a 7.23 per cent drop from a volume of 138.991 million units traded in the previous session.

The value of those traded stocks hand dipped by 38.79 per cent in the session to stand at N1.668 billion as against a value of N2.725 billion recorded in the previous trading session.

The banking sector dominated the volume charts with Sterling Bank as the top traded stock by volume for the trading session. This is followed by Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO), Ecobamk Transnational Incorporated (ETI) and Fidelity Bank to complete the list of the five most traded stocks by volume.

With regard to the value of the traded stocks, MTN Nigeria took the lead of the top five performers, flanked by Zenith Bank, GTCO, ETI and WAPCO.

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