At the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, equities trading went southward as the bears made a comeback to reverse four consecutive days of bullish trends.
The All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.76 percent, equivalent to 539.48 index points, settling at 70,042.28 basis points after previously reaching a historic high of 70,584.69 points.
Selloffs in telco heavyweight, MTN Nigeria Communication, as well as BUA Cement and Zenith Bank underpinned the market’s weak performance as the share prices of these companies dipped by 2.44 percent, 1.87 percent and 1.16 percent, respectively.
Consequently, Month-to-Date (MTD) and Year-to-Date (YTD) returns printed +1.2 percent and +36.7 percent, respectively.
Similarly, the total market capitalization of listed equities also dropped by 0.76 percent to N38.48 trillion, with investors shedding N296.39 billion from their portfolios.
As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative as 28 tickers lost relative to 26 gainers.
On the performance board, Chans and International Breweries recorded the highest losses of the day having lost 9.8 percent and 8.8 percent from their respective share prices, while Omatek and Academy Press topped the gainers’ list as their share prices appreciated by 10.0 percent and 9.8 percent, respectively.
Across various sectors, negative sentiment prevailed, with three out of five tracked sectors closing in the red, one sector remaining flat, and the Insurance sector experiencing gains, rising by 1.56 percent. The Banking, Industrial, and Consumer goods indexes suffered the most significant setbacks, declining by 0.85 percent, 0.65 percent, and 0.19 percent, respectively, while the Oil & Gas index remained unchanged.
Trading activity on the NGX was bearish, with noticeable declines in the traded volume and value by 12.68 percent and 44.73 percent, respectively. The total traded volume amounted to 525.46 million units valued at N6.09 billion.
However, the total number of deals for the day increased by 12.79 percent to 8,396 deals. Japaul Gold was the most traded security in terms of volume with 93.02 million units worth N124.95 million traded during the Thursday session, while UBA was the most traded in terms of value, amounting to N971.34 million.
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