NSE ASI dips by 2% as bearish sentiment return

Trading on the Nigeria Stock exchange ended in negative territory as equities listed on the exchange succumbed to sell pressures. Investors continued to take profit from the rally enjoyed in the past trading sessions, thus leading the market to close in the red.
The flagship index retreated by 2.06 percent, as did most other sub-indices, which followed in this negative trend. The NSE 30 index retreated by 1.7 percent, the Banking index by 1.3 percent, and the Insurance index by 0.6 percent.
The consumer index and industrial index also fell by 1.2 percent and 2.6 percent respectively. The oil and gas index, which was Monday’s outlier gained marginally by 0.4 percent, buoyed by gains in Exploration and Production stocks like Oando.
Market capitalisation inched lower, shedding 2.1 percent from the previous trading day.
Market Breadth, which gauges the direction of the overall market by analysing the number of companies advancing relative to the number declining, also ended in negative territory, as only 16 stocks gained, compared to 29 stocks which recorded losses in their share price.
Leading the gainers list was RT Briscoe, which gained 9 percent or & kobo to close at 84 kobo, up from 77 kobo. Oando followed closely as the second highest gainer, adding 8.63 percent or N1.39 to close the day’s trading at N17.50, up from N16.11 the previous trading day. UAC Properties gained 4.95 percent or 47 kobo, Champion Breweries gained 4.85 percent or 34 kobo, while Total rounded off the top five gainers’ list with a 4.56 percent or N6.50 gain in its share price.
On the other hand, Seplat led the losers’ chart with a 5.26 percent or N19.51 dip in its share price, as at the end of Monday’s trading; shares of GlaxoSmithKline also dipped by 5.18 percent or N2.59; Julius Berger lost 5 percent or N3 in its share price; Dangote Cement declined by 5 percent or N10; and Ashaka Cement declined by 4.98 percent or N1.09 to round off the top losers’ chart.
Banks such as Skye Bank, Access, Diamond, Zenith, Ecobank, and First Bank also witnessed varying degrees of dips in their share prices
The Financial Services sector led the activity chart led by GTB and First Bank; followed by the Consumer goods sector led by Nigeria Breweries and Flour Mills of Nigeria.
The most traded stock however, was Guaranty Trust Bank with 431 deals worth N1.24bn.