The Nigerian equities sector sustained a sliding profile at the end of yesterday’s transactions, as more blue-chip stocks, especially GSK, African Prudential, and others joined the league of losers, resulting in a further slide in market capitalisation by N1 billion.
At the close of trading Wednesday, at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 0.92 absolute points, about 0.004 per cent down to close at 24,173.53 points. Similarly, the overall market capitalisation shed N1 billion to close at N12.610 trillion.
The marginal downturn witnessed in the market was as a result of price depreciation in the shares of GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) Consumer Nigeria, Africa Prudential, Caverton Offshore Support Group, Sterling Bank, and Consolidated Hallmark Insurance.
On market performance, analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited said: “It will be notable to point out that half-year financial reports have started rolling in, Jaiz Bank, Skyway Aviation Handling Company, Unilever Nigeria amongst others.
“We advise for positioning in fundamentally justified stocks at this time as the market is set to rally in response to half-year corporate actions.”
Also, Vetiva capital said: The market continued to trade range-bound as investors adopted cautious trading strategies amidst market volatility.
“We expect another mixed trading session tomorrow; as investors continue to cherry-pick attractive names while taking profit on those that have increased in value in recent times.”
Market breadth augmented with nine stocks apiece. Eterna recorded the highest price gain of 8.89 per cent to close at N1.96 per share. May and Baker Nigeria followed with 7.91 per cent to close at N3.00, and NPF Microfinance Bank rose 7.58 per cent to close at N1.42, per share.
