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Chinwendu Obienyi
Nigeria’s equities market sustained its descent as the Year-to-Date (YTD) loss worsened to -14.7 per cent, following investors’ sell-offs in the shares of MTNN, Dangote Sugar and UBA.
At the close of trading yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) dipped 0.21 per cent to close at 26,809.92 points while market capitalization declined by N28 billion to N13.050 trillion.
However, activity level rose as volume and value traded advanced by 22.6 and 68.7 per cent to 185.94 million units and N2.53 billion respectively, in 3,083 deals.
Investors’ sentiment weakened as 14 others declined while 12 others advanced. Champion Breweries topped the losers’ chart with 9.57 per cent to close at N1.04 per share, Courtville was next with 9.09 per cent to close at 0.20 kobo, LearnAfrica lost 8.93 per cent to close at N1.02, Wema Bank fell by 7.94 per cent to close at 0.58 kobo while Chams decreased by 7.69 per cent to close at 0.24 kobo.
On the otherhand, Nascon topped the gainers chart with 10 per cent to close at N14.85 per share. NPF Microfinance Bank folllowed with a gain of 9.09 per cent to close at N1.20, Forte Oil increased by 6.08 per cent to close at N15.70, Mobil rose by 5.64 per cent to close at N147.90 while Lasaco garnered 3.57 per cent to close at 0.29 kobo.
Analysts at Afrinvest said, “We expect the bearish sentiment to persist as investors continue to take a risk-off approach towards the market”.
Meanwhile Zenith Bank topped the activity chart with 60.91 million shares sold at a value of N1.09 billion. FCMB traded 37.33 million shares valued at N59.73 million while GT Bank transacted 27.89 million shares worth N744.38 million.
