By Thompson ABISOLA
The Nigerian equities market closed lower on Thursday with further decline of 1.33 per cent to extend losing streak to five consecutive transactions days.
The All Share Index (ASI) was down by 411.92 absolute points, representing a decrease of 1.33 per cent, closing at 30,611.55 against 31,023.47 achieved on Wednesday.
Similarly, the market capitalisation decreased by N150 billion or 1.33 per cent to close at N11.175 trillion compared with N11.325 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are: Dangote Cement, Guaranty Trust Bank, Cadbury Nigeria, United Bank for Africa (UBA) and FBN Holdings.
Analysts at Afrinvest Limited said: “Although, we observed a bearish performance since the beginning of the week, we expect an uptick in market trading session in days ahead, as investors seek to increase buying interests in fundamentally justified stocks which have declined in value.
“However, we do not expect the uptick to nullify the overall negative performance of the local bourse.”
Market breadth remained negative, with 23 gainers and 12 losers.
Dangote Cement recorded the highest loss during the day, dropping by N5 to close at N185 per share.
Guaranty Trust Bank trailed with a loss of N1.30 to close at N34.30, while Cadbury shed 50k to close at N9.50 per share.
United Bank for Africa was down by 30k to close at N7.05, while Lafarge Africa dropped by 30k to close at N13.05 per share.
Conversely, Access Bank led the gainers’ table, growing by 50k to close at N7.50 per share.
Nigerian Breweries followed with a gain of 40k to close at N9.40, while Forte Oil gained 30k to close at N17.65 per share.
Ikeja Hotel improved by 15k to close at N1.68, while Continental Reinsurance appreciated by 13k to close at N2 per share.
Total volume of trades grew by 100.4 per cent to 441.61 million shares valued at N4.46 billion in 3,648 deals.
This was against the 220.40 million shares worth N N2.73 billion exchanged in 3,252 deals.
Universal Insurance dominated trading activities with 150.1 million shares valued at N30.01 million.
Access Bank followed with 73.57 million shares worth N503.01 million, while Stanbic IBTC Holdings traded 43.91 million shares valued at N2.2 billion.
Diamond Bank transacted 41.31 million shares worth N27.51 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 22.29 million shares worth N515.23 million.
