Stock Market Resumes Losing Streak After A Day Break
The nation’s stock market has resumed its losing streak after a one-day break, where investors recorded N11bn gains on Monday.
Investors have counted losses totalling N41bn in two days as the equities market took a fall on Tuesday, extending its losing trend to Wednesday.
At the end of trading on Wednesday, the All Share Index declined by 0.12 per cent to 26,513.65 basis points following major losses posted by MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, Guaranty Trust Bank Plc and Dangote Flour Mills Plc.
The year-to-date loss worsened to -15.6 per cent.
A total of 138.470 million shares valued at N3.605bn exchanged hands in 2,487 deals.
The top traded stocks by volume were Access Bank Plc (27.3 million units), GTB (24.6 million units) and FCMB Group Plc (23 million units) while GTB (N655.8m), MTN Nigeria (N447.2m) and Zenith Bank Plc (N203.4m).
Performance across sectors was bearish as four of six sectors recorded losses.
The consumer goods and banking indices emerged the only gainers, up by 0.2 per cent and 0.1 per cent, respectively on the back of gains in Nestlé Nigeria Plc, GTB and Fidelity Bank Plc.
On the flip side, the industrial goods index led the laggards, down by one per cent following sell pressures in Lafarge Africa Plc, while the oil and gas index shed 0.3 per cent due to price depreciation in Oando Plc.
Similarly, the insurance and AFR-ICT indices fell by 0.2 per cent on account of sell-offs in Wapic Insurance Plc and MTN Nigeria.
Investor sentiment strengthened as market breadth (advance/decline ratio) rose to 1.6x from 0.6x recorded on Tuesday as 13 stocks gained against 11 decliners.
The top gainers were Law Union and Rock Insurance Plc, Livestock Feeds Plc, Courteville Business Solutions Plc, Dangote Flour Mills and Africa Prudential Plc, which saw respective gains of 9.09 per cent, 6.38 per cent, five per cent, 3.34 per cent and 2.56 per cent.
The top five losers were Wapic Insurance, Chams Plc, Sterling Bank Plc, Lafarge and Ecobank, whose respective share prices shed 8.57 per cent, 8.33 per cent, 7.69 per cent, 4.06 per cent and 2.78 per cent respectively.
Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited maintained their bearish outlook on the equities market in the next trading sessions, saying market sentiment remained weak.
