Stock market in retreat as negative sentiments prevail

The Nigerian stock market is retreating after weeks of impressive gains as investors took advantage of the rising prices to offload their shares. The downward trajectory which began last weekend has since continued till date.

The market crash has plunged the NSE All-Share Index by 0.09 per cent, just as the market breadth closed negative, with 13 losers against 22 gainers.

The ASI fell by 23.44 basis points to close at 24,930.88bps as against 24,954.32bps in the previous trading session.

The market capitalisation of equities depreciated by N12bn from N13.02tn the previous day to N13.01tn as market sentiment remained in negative territory.

The volume of shares traded stood at 200.39 million shares in 4,194 deals on Tuesday.

The premium subsector was the most active (measured by turnover volume), with 74.93 million shares traded by investors in 1,604 deals. It was largely driven by activities in the shares of FBN Holdings Plc and Zenith Bank Plc.

The financial services subsector was boosted by the activities in the shares of FCMB Plc and United Capital Plc with a turnover of 28.14 million shares in 186 deals.

Fidson Healthcare Plc topped the gainers’ table on Tuesday with a gain of 10 per cent to close at N3.63 per share.

Skyway Aviation Handling Company Plc followed with an increase of 8.06 per cent to close at N2.95 per share, while Caverton Plc added 7.35 per cent to close at N2.19 per share.

On the other hand, Neimeth International Pharmaceuticals Plc led the losers with a drop of 9.91 per cent to close at N2.09 per share.

Prestige Assurance Plc lost 9.52 per cent to close at 57 kobo per share, while C&I Leasing Plc decreased by 9.38 per cent to close at N4.35 per share.