Negative sentiment continued on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Thursday with the market capitalisation declining further by N8 billion.
The market capitalisation lost N8 billion to close at N13.344 trillion against N13.352 trillion achieved on Wednesday.
Also, the All-Share Index dipped 17.57 points or 0.07 per cent to close at 25,532.74 from 25,550.31 posted on Wednesday.
Accordingly, Month-to-Date gain moderated to 0.8 per cent while Year-to-Date loss increased to -4.9 per cent.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in large and medium capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Sugar, Custodian Investment, Caverton, Ecobank Transnational and Oando.
Capital market analysts attributed the decline to price adjustments for interim dividend declared by some banks and profit taking in insurance and manufacturing stocks.
They also noted that profit taking in insurance and manufacturing equities further depressed the key performance index for the third consecutive day.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said “Given the sustained bearish sentiment, we expect the equities market to close the week in the red.”
Tripple Gee led the decliners’ chart in percentage terms, losing 9.09 per cent to close at 40k per share.
Caverton came second with a loss of 8.60 per cent to close at N1.70, while Dangote Sugar dropped 5.88 per cent to close at N11.20 per share.
Custodian Investment lost 5.21 per cent to close at N4.55, while Livestock Feeds shed 4.92 per cent to close at 58k per share.
On the other hand, International Breweries topped the gainers’ table in percentage terms, growing by 10 per cent, to close at N3.30 per cent.
Wapic Insurance gained 9.09 per cent to close at 36k, while NPF Microfinance Bank improved by 8.33 per cent to close at N1.30 per share.
Academy Press and Royal Exchange appreciated by 7.41 per cent each, to close at 29k per share, respectively.
In spite of loss by the key market indicators, volume transacted rose by 9.15 per cent with 231.20 million shares worth N2.09 billion traded in 3,360 deals.
This was against a total of 211.82 million shares valued at N2.42 billion recorded in 3,651 deals on Wednesday.
Transactions in the shares of FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with 33.53 million shares worth N165.36 million.
Access Bank followed with 30.40 million shares worth N200.05 million, while Zenith Bank traded 25.08 million shares valued at N418.01 million.
FCMB Group traded 20.55 million shares valued at N42.14 million, while Guaranty Trust Bank sold 20.29 million shares worth N506.26 million.
