Nigeria’s equities market saw its first negative close this week, decreasing by 0.32 percent on Thursday, August 5.
As expected, the nation’s stock market witnessed quiet buy-side activity as sentiment begins to tilt towards the negative following mixed half-year (H1) scorecards released by most corporates.
Amid this performance, market watchers anticipate another negative session on Friday as investors continue to take profit in some names that had gained in past sessions.
Investors booked about N65billion loss on Thursday, driven mostly by a record decrease in the share price of Ardova Plc, which led the laggards league. Its share price moved from N16 to N15, down by N1 or 6.25percent.
Read also: Nigeria’s equities shed N159bn as profit-taking continues
On the gainers table, Conoil Plc led other counters after its share price moved from N18.50 to N20.35, up by N1.85 or 10percent.
The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation decreased from day-open highs of 38,927.83 points and N20.281trillion respectively to 38,801.51 points and N20.216 trillion.
UBA, GTCo, Zenith Bank, Wema Bank and AIICO were actively traded stocks on the Bourse.
In 3,655 deals, investors exchanged 139.782million shares valued at N1.41billion.
The stock market’s negative return year-to-date (Ytd) increased to -3.65 percent.
