The Nigerian Stock Exchange equity market recorded losses for the third straight days on Thursday, despite a higher number of stocks advancing compared to those that declined.
The All-Share index closed 0.07% down at 25,532.74, largely due to the price adjustment of Zenith Bank Plc and the losses recorded by DANGSUGAR (-5.88%), OANDO (-2.13%) among others which countered the gains in INTBREW (+10.00%), CADBURY (+4.23%), GUARANTY (+0.20%) etcetera.
The market capitalization settled at N13.344 trillion with YTD return weakening to -4.88%.
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Activity level
The activity level was mixed as the volume of traded stocks increased to by 9% to 231.202 million, whereas the value of the traded shares declined by 13% to N2.095 billion due to increased activity in low-value stocks.
The top five traded equities by volume were banking stocks. FBNH led with 33.533 million shares valued at N165.364 million traded in 275 deals. It was followed by ACCESS with 30.402 million shares and ZENITHBANK with 25.075 million shares.
In terms of value, GUARANTY took the lead, followed by ZENITHBANK and MTNN.
Performance of Indices
Three out of the five indices under our watch closed in green with the Insurance Index increasing by the highest rate. Below are the performances of the five indices;
- The Insurance Index rose by 1.28%
- Consumer Goods Index rose by 0.07%
- The Industrial Goods Index gained 0.05%
- The Banking Index was down by 0.36%
- The Oil and Gas Index declined 0.19%
Investor sentiment
Investor sentiment as measured by market breadth (gain/loss ratio) remained improved to 1.5x in favor of gainers as 17 stocks advanced while 11 declined.
The top five gainers by percentage and closing prices are;
- INTBREW rose by 10.00% to close at N3.30
- WAPIC rose by 9.09% to close at N0.36
- NPFMCRFBK rose by 8.33% to close at N1.30
- ACADEMY rose by 7.41% to close at N0.29
- ROYALEX rose by 7.41% to close at N0.29
The top five decliners by percentage are;
- TRIPPLEG lost 9.09% to close at N0.40
- CAVERTON lost 8.60% to close at N1.70
- DANGSUGAR lost 5.88% to close at N11.20
- CUSTODIAN lost 5.21% to close at N4.55
- LIVESTOCK lost 4.92% to close at N0.58
Naira value slightly appreciated at the parallel market to close at N362/$1 on Thursday against N365/$1 it exchanged on Wednesday.
Oil prices rose from the lows seen earlier in the week, with Brent crude futures trading at $43.82 per barrel and WTI at $40.93 per barrel.
Written by;
Ifunanya Ikueze
