Negative sentiments persist at NGX as investors lose N82.5bn

Negative sentiments persisted in the local bourse, on Thursday, leaving the All-Share Index (ASI) at 43,549.28 basis points after declining by 0.4 per cent.

Sentiments for the day followed profit-taking activities by investors on MTN Nigerian leaving its share value with 0.5 per cent decline. Also, the markdown on Airtel Africa also contributed to the lower ASI value.

Accordingly, Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date gains moderated to +3.6 per cent and +8.1 per cent, respectively.
At the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday, investors lost N82.5 billion as the market capitalisation settled at N22.727 trillion as against an opening mark of N22.809 trillion.

At the end of trading activities, market sentiment as measured by market breadth remained negative as 18 tickers declined, relative to 10 gainers.

On the performance chart, Cornerstone Insurance and CUTIX topped the losers’ list having depreciated in value by 8.8 per cent and 8.1 per cent respectively, while Unity Bank and FTN Cocoa recorded the most significant gains of the day after the value of their respective shares appreciated by 7.3 per cent and 5.0 per cent.

Sectoral performance was broadly negative, as the Banking, Insurance, and Industrial Goods indices declined by 0.9 per cent, 0.9 per cent and 0.1 per cent respectively. Elsewhere, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.

Activities for the day followed overall sentiments as the total volume of trades declined by 57.1 per cent to 161.31 million units, valued at N2.14 billion, and exchanged in 3.574 deals.

FBN Holdings was the most traded stock by volume at 28.16 million units, while MTN Nigeria was the most traded stock by value at N405.34 million.

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