Nigeria’s equities market on Wednesday failed to sustain preceding day’s gains after shedding N17billion as sell side activities outweighed the buy side.
Driven by industrial, banking and insurance stocks, the market decreased by 0.06percent at the close of Wednesday’s trading session.
Learn Africa Plc topped the league of decliners after its share price dipped by 26kobo or 10percent, from N2.60 to N2.34; followed by University Press Plc which lost 23kobo or 9.79percent, down from N2.35 to N2.12.
Cornerstone Insurance Plc was also among the top laggards after its share price dropped from 75kobo to 68kobo, losing 7kobo or 9.33percent, and United Bank Plc which dipped from 47kobo to 45kobo, shedding 2kobo or 4.26percent.
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The Nigerian Exchange Limited (NGX) All-Share Index (ASI) and Market Capitalisation decreased from preceding trading day’s highs of 50,626.04 points and N27.300trillion respectively to 50,594.97 points and N27.283 trillion. The market’s positive return year-to-date (YtD) also decreased to 18.44percent.
MTNN, FBN Holdings, Zenith Bank, Zenith Bank, UBA and Access Holdings were Wednesday’s most traded stocks on the Nigerian Exchange. In 4,369 deals, investors exchanged 121,160,518 shares valued at N4.168billion.
Looking ahead to the rest of the week, analysts at Lagos-based United Capital said they see room for sustained bargain-hunting “as investors will continue to cherry-pick stocks with strong fundamentals, also taking advantage of the depressed market prices to secure attractive entry positions.”
They however maintained in their August 3 note following Tuesday’s rally that “the local bourse will remain broadly bearish as higher interest rates, depressed exchange rate and political camaraderie weigh on investor sentiments in the medium term”.
