Equities market drops by 0.18%

The equities market of the Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) on Thursday extended its bearish performance as price decline in MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN) Plc and 28 others dragged the market benchmark down by 0.18 percent.The NGX All-Share Index (ASI) lost 121.21 basis points or 0.18 per cent to close at 67,084.95 basis points, while market capitalisation declined by N66 billion to close at N36.857 trillion.The downturn was driven by price depreciation in large and medium capitalised stocks amongst which are; Stanbic IBTC Holdings, MTN Nigeria Communications (MTNN), Flour Mills of Nigeria, CWG and Guaranty Trust Holding Company (GTCO).Sectoral performance was mixed as the NGX Banking Index down by 0.33per cent sector, while the NGX Consumer Goods added 0.12per cent. Elsewhere, the NGX Industrial and Oil & Gas indices closed flat.As measured by market breadth, market sentiment was negative, as 12 stocks gained relative to 29 losers. McNichols emerged the highest price gainer of 8.93 per cent to close at 61 kobo, per share. UAC of Nigeria (UACN) followed with a gain of 6.09 per cent to close at N12.20, while Oando rose by 4.07 percent to close at N8.95, per share.Chams Holding Company increased by 3.65 percent to close at N1.99, while Nestle Nigeria added 2.94 percent to close at N1,050.00, per share. On the other side, Secure Electronic Technology led the losers’ chart with 10 per cent to close at 27 kobo, per share. CWG followed with a decline of 9.94 percent to close at N7.70, while Thomas Wyatt Nigeria shed 9.84 percent to close at N4.03, per share.International Breweries depreciated by 9.78 percent to close at N4.15, while Universal Insurance down by 8.33 percent to close at 22 kobo, per share.The total volume traded declined by 18.81 per cent to 267.654 million units, valued at N5.111 billion, and exchanged in 5,205 deals. Transactions in the shares of Fidelity Bank led the activity with 39.831 million shares worth N326.853 million.Chams Holding Company followed with account of 23.500 million shares valued at N46.416 million, while Access Holdings traded 20.556 million shares valued at N347.746 million.United Bank for Africa (UBA) traded 91.008 million shares worth N347.268 million, while Japaul Gold & Ventures traded 18.253 million shares worth N16.286 million.According to analysts at InvestmentOne Research, “The Nigerian bourse recorded a bearish performance today due to the selloffs observed in MTN Nigeria and the Banking sector. Going forward, we expect investor s sentiments to be swayed by the search for real positive returns and developments in the interest rate space.“We reiterate that this may be a great period to pick up some quality names with a medium to long-term investment horizon.”