Bears’ hold gets stronger as market index slides by N73b

Transactions on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), sustained the bearish hold yesterday, following price losses suffered by major highly bluechip stocks, causing market capitalisation to plunge significantly by N73 billion.

Yesterday, the All -share index (ASI) was down by 199.92 absolute points, representing a decrease of 0.61 per cent to close at 32,763.35 points.
Similarly, the market capitalisation decreased by N73 billion, closing at N11.961 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Nestle Nigeria, Guaranty Trust Bank, PZ Cussons Nigeria, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria (CCNN), and Dangote Sugar Refinery.

Analysts at Afrinvest Limited, stated: “although we maintain a bearish outlook over the near term, we nonetheless expect a rebound in market performance to close the week.”

Market breadth closed positive, recording 13 gainers against 21 losers. First Aluminium, and Royal Exchange recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each, to close at 44 kobo and 22 kobo per share respectively, while Linkage Assurance followed with a gain of 9.38 per cent to close at 64 kobo, per share.
Prestige Assurance rose by 8.70 per cent to close at 50 kobo, while Law Union and Rock Insurance appreciated by 6.56 per cent to close at 65 kobo per share.

On the other hand, Associated Bus Company led the losers’ chart by 9.09 per cent to close at 30 kobo per share. PZ Cussons Nigeria followed with a decline of 4.81 per cent to close at N12.85, while Honeywell Flour lost 4.76 per cent to close at N1.40, per share.

Nestle Nigeria shed 4.18 per cent to close at N1,432.50, while United Capital depreciated by 4.11 per cent to close at N2.80 per share.
The total volume traded depreciated by 10.4 per cent to 154.290 million shares, worth N2.73 billion.