by Kayode Tokede
Activities on the equities market segment of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday reverse prior days positive sentiment with a marginal loss of 0.05 per cent, following profit taking on high capitalised stocks.
The All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 13.59 basis points, representing a dip of 0.05 per cent to close at 27,864.84 basis points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation size gained N7 billion to close at N14.513 trillion
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; MTN Nigeria, NEM Insurance, UAC of Nigeria (UACN), Law Union and Rock Insurance and Zenith Bank.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said that “We expect the bearish sentiment to persist for the rest of the week. However, we note that there are opportunities for bargain hunting.”
Market breadth closed negative, with 13 gainers versus 15 losers. United Capital recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent, to close at N2.86, per share. Learn Africa followed with a gain 9.73 per cent to close at N1.24, while Wapic Insurance rose by 9.09 per cent to close 36 kobo, per share.
Livestock Feeds went up by 8.33 per cent to close at 65 kobo, while Guaranty Trust Bank rose by 6.83 per cent to close at N30.85, per share. On the other hand, Law Union and Rock Insurance led the losers’ chart by 9.84 per cent, to close at N1.10, per share.
Japaul Oil and Maritime Services followed with a decline of 8.33 per cent to close at 22 kobo, while NEM Insurance fell by 7.27 per cent to close at N2.04, per share.
AIICO Insurance went down by 5.88 to close at 80 kobo, while Jaiz Bank shed 4.55 per cent to close at 63 kobo, per share.
Similarly, the total volume of trades decreased by 1.10 per cent to 150.7 million units, valued at NGN2.8 billion and exchanged in 3,198 deals. Transactions in the shares of Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 25.41 million shares valued at N502.43 million.
Flour Mill of Nigeria followed with 25.06 million shares worth N574.52 million, while United Capital traded 21.78 million shares valued at N59.04 million.
United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 10.91 million shares valued at N84.53 million, while MTN Nigeria transacted 6.85 million shares worth N792.58 million.
