Equities Market Down 0.16%

By UMORU ABDULKADIR

The Nigerian equities market closed on a negative note as NSE-ASI lost 0.16 per cent to close at 26,513.65 points on Tuesday.

Accordingly, the All-Share Index depreciated by 43.79 basis points or 0.16 per cent to close lower at 26,513.65 in contrast to 26,557.44 points recorded on the first day of the trading week.

The Market Capitalisation declined by N21.32 billion to finish today at N12.906 trillion lower than N12.928 trillion of the previous day.

Similarly, in today’s trade, market breadth index was negative with 13 losers against 7 gainers.

On account of value of trades, MTN Nigeria lost 100 kobo (-0.77%) to close trading at N129 per share, leading the worst performers chart. It was followed by GLAXOSMITH with a depreciation of 70 kobo (-9.86%) to close at N6.40 per share, Dangote Flour dropped 55 kobo (-2.39%) to settle at N22.45 per share.  While Guaranty Trust Bank declined by 20 kobo (-074%) to close at N26.65, Afriprud shed 10 kobo (-2.50%) to close at N3.9 per share, among others.

On the flip side, Cement Company of Northern Nigeria advanced by 65 kobo (4.28%) to settle at N15.85 per share. NAHCO followed with 12 kobo (5.15%) appreciation to close at N2.45 per share, UCAP gained 7 kobo (3.45%) to finish at N2.1 per share.  Fidson HealthCare hitched up 5 kobo (1.27%) and UACN went up by 5 kobo (0.75%) to close at N6.7 per share to complete to top five gainers’ chart.

ACCESS BANK exchanged 27.3 million shares worth N201.5 million to lead the most actively traded stock. Guaranty Trust Bank sold 24.5 million share valued at N655.8 million. First City Monument Bank traded 22.96 million share worth N36.8 million. While GSPECPLC exchanged 20 million shares valued at N94 million, Transnational Corporation had a turnover of 14.5 million shares worth N14.6 million to round off the table for the most traded stocks on Tuesday.

Sectoral Performance showed that NSE Banking Index Shed 0.25%, on the back of the selloffs in UBA (-0.83%) and GUARANTY (-0.74%).

NSE Oil & Gas Index: Closed down by 0.22% following the loss in OANDO (-1.96%) while NSE Industrial Index was up 0.83%, due to the gain in CCNN (+4.28%).

NSE Consumer Goods Index Closed Flat at the end of today’s trading session.

Analyst at Cowry Asset Management Limited, Mr Johnson Chuckwu said the negative outlook of the market today was due to losses recorded in Banking and Oil & Gas sectors.

Chuckwu maintained that investors should take positions in quality names with a medium to long time investment horizon as prices remain attractive at current levels.