Ardova, others cause market to see first dip this week

Nigeria’s equities market on Thursday recorded its first decline this week by 0.90 percent.

Analysts had ahead of market’s close expected to see moderation in the bullish sentiment, as investors look to take profit on some recent gainers.

Investors booked about N257billion loss, driven majorly by sell pressure on stocks like Ardova, Honeywell Flour Mills, and Academy Press.

The record negative close pushed this year’s positive return down to 1.67 percent.

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At the close of trading session, the market’s benchmark performance indicators – the All-Share Index (ASI) and its equities market capitalisation – dropped from preceding day high of 52,580.86 points and N28.630trillion respectively to 52,109.43 points and N28.373trillion.

Ardova share price decreased most, from N24.80 to N22.35, down by N2.45 or 9.88percent. It was followed by that of Honeywell Flour Mills which dropped from a high of N2.90 to N2.65, down by 25kobo or 8.62 percent while Academy Press dropped from N1.70 to N1.53, losing 17kobo or 10percent.

Access Corporation, GTCO, Zenith Bank, Transcorp and UBA were top-5 traded stocks on Thursday as investors in 5,350 deals exchanged
334,237,506 shares valued at N5.148billion.