Nigerian stocks closed in the red Wednesday, paring gains of previous trading session by 0.25 percent chiefly hauled by losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (NB) (-3.2%), UBA (-3.9%) and ETI (-3.2%). Consequently, the benchmark index, the NSEASI settled at 30,642.4 points just as market capitalisation declined by N27.9 billion to 11.2 trillion.
To this end, year-to-date (YTD) loss weakened to -19.9 percent. However, activity level strengthened as volume and value traded increased by 14.3 percent and 8.7 percent to settle at 246.1 million units and N3.7 trillion respectively.
ZENITH (55.3m units), FBNH (54.0m units) and ACCESS (21.0m units) were the most traded stocks by volume while the top traded stocks by value were ZENITH (N1.3bn), GUARANTY (N614.4m) and NIGERIAN BREWERIES (N483.9m).
On a sectoral basis, performance was bearish as four out of five major indices trended southwards. The industrial goods index extended its gaining streak by 0.6 percent on the back of gains in DANGCEM (+0.3%) and CAP (+10.0).
On the flip side, the Insurance index declined the most by 2.0 percent as losses in MANSARD (-10.0%) and CONTINSURE (-2.8%) weighed on performance. Similarly, the Consumer Goods and Oil & Gas indices dipped 0.9% and 0.2% respectively on the back of losses in NIGERIAN BREWERIES (-3.2%), DANGSUGAR (-5.4%), MOBIL (-5.5%) and CONOIL (-10.0%). Furthermore, the banking index dipped shed 0.1% due to profit-taking in DIAMONDBNK (-4.2%) and UBA (-3.9%).
In line with the market performance, investor sentiment (advance/decline ratio) softened, moderating to 1.2x from 1.4x in the last trading session as 24 stocks advanced against 20 stocks that declined. The top performing stocks of the day were CAP (+10.0%), FORTE OIL (+9.8%) and JAPAULOIL (+9.5%) while MANSARD (-10.0%), CONOIL (-10.0%) and CHAMS (-9.1%) led the under-performing stocks.
Analysts say they expect the undulating trend recorded thus far to persist while maintaining conscious outlook for the market in the near term.
