• Thursday, March 28, 2024
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Nigeria’s stock market records mixed trading sessions of profit taking, bargain hunting

Companies sacrifice investors’ dividends for regulatory penalty

With barging hunting activities in two sessions and profit taking in others, Nigeria’s stock market saw a week of mixed trading sentiment.

As investors adopted a more cautious trading, the market on Friday September 18 halted its three consecutive sessions of negative returns.

Analysts believe that with the improvement seen in the Crude oil market, the ASI will start the new week on a positive note, barring any external shocks capable of depressing investors’ sentiment.

The market’s benchmark performance indicator –Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) – depreciated by 0.08percent to close the week ended Friday September 18 at 25,572.57 points, from 25,591.95 points at the beginning of the review week.

The market’s negative return year-to-date (ytd) stood at -4.73percent. Meanwhile, the NSE ASI has increased by 0.97percent this month.

The market however gained N13billion, as value of listed stocks increased to N13.364trillion from N13.351 trillion.

NSE Oil and Gas Index (-1.03percent) dipped most in the review week, followed by NSE Banking Index (-0.67percent).

On the bargain side, NSE Industrial Index gained most (+0.50percent), followed by NSE Consumer Goods Index (+0.13percent), and NSE Insurance Index (+0.01percent).