Equities market records marginal loss of 0.02%

The equities market of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued its decline, as the benchmark index pared by 0.02per cent to 26,938.58 basis points from 26,944.32 basis points it closed on Tuesday, following profit-taking in listed Banks stocks.

Consequently, the Month-to-Date and the Year-to-Date losses worsened to -0.24 per cent and -14.29 per cent respectively.

The equities market capitalization made a rebound to close at N13.002trillion indicating 0.085% increase compared to N13.005 trillion recorded on Tuesday.

However, Zenith bank plc was actively traded on the bourse again today as it traded in 15.9 million shares valued at N296.9 million across 369 deals, followed by FCMB, which traded 15.2 million shares at N26.99 million across 143 deals.

UBA plc recorded trades in 12.96 million shares at N90.66 million across 172 deals, Fidelity bank traded 7.45 million shares valued at N14.98 million across 75 deals while GTBank rounded off the list with trades in 6.09 million shares valued at N183.97 million across 169 deals.

Mixed performances were recorded across sectors, as Banking (-0.45 per cent) and Oil & Gas (-0.24 per cent) indices declined, while the Insurance (+0.77 per cent) and Industrial Goods (+0.34 per cent) and Consumer Goods (+0.15 per cent) indices advanced.

Market sentiment, as measured by market breadth, was positive (1.2x), as 16 tickers recorded gains relative to 13 losers.

Japaul Oil ranked highest amongst top gainers on the floor with 10 per cent increase to close at N0.22, May & Baker plc followed with 9.74 per cent gain to close at N2.14.

NEM insurance gained 5.26 per cent to close at N2, Courteville gained 3.85 per cent to close at N0.27 while Cutix plc rounded off with 3.5 per cent to close at N1.48.

Sterling bank plc declined the most having shed 6.34 per cent of its share value to close at N1.92 followed by Chams Plc, which lost 5.71 per cent to close at N0.33.

FCMB lost 3.23 per cent to close at N1.8, NAHCO declined by 2.8 per cent to close at N2.43 while Honeywell flour plc lost 2.71 per cent to close at N1.07.