The stock market closed lower yesterday after four days of positive performance due to profit taking activities. The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 0.28 per cent to close at 25,671.23 following losses by some high capitalised stocks.
After the three days of gains last week, the market had opened on Monday with a marginal gain of 0.01 per cent, which was a signal that profit taking was around the corner.
By the close of trading yesterday, the ASI has been depressed majorly as a result of price decline in Dangote Cement Plc (-1.2 per cent), Nestle Nigeria Plc(-1.2 per cent), Guinness Nigeria Plc(-4.9 per cent) and Nigerian Breweries Plc ( -0.7 pe cent)among others.
Apart from the ASI that went down, market capitalisation shed N28.7 billion to close lower at N8.83 trillion.
However, Diamond Bank Plc led the price losers’ table with 5.4 per cent decline, followed by Caverton and Sterling Bank Plc shedding 4.2 per cent and 4.1 per cent respectively.
Other losers included: Wema Bank (3.6 per cent); May & Baker Nigeria Plc(3.3 per cent); Oando Plc (2.9 per cent0 and UACN Property Development Company Plc(1.8 per cent).
On the positive side, Total Nigeria Plc and Forte Oil led with 10.2 per cent apiece, trailed by Forte Oil Plc Portland Paints with 9.4 per cent while Transcorp Plc appreciated by 7.8 per cent. Nascon Allied Industries Plc with 4.5 per cent.
Sectoral performance remained mixed as the NSE Oil & Gas Index led sector gainers with 2.8 per cent on sustained interest in Total (+10.2 per cent) and Forte Oil (+10.2 per cent). The NSE Banking Index trailed, rising by 0.1 per cent. However, persistent sell offs in Guinness Nigeria and Nestle made the NSE Consumer Goods Index to close 0.8 per cent lower. Similarly, the NSE Industrial Goods Index went down by 0.6 per cent on the back of price depreciation in Dangote Cement.
Meanwhile, the total value of stocks traded was N2.49 billion staked on 189.41 million shares, down by 20.68 per cent from N3.14 billion the previous day. The most actively traded sectors were Financial Services (159.08 million shares), Consumer Goods (13.89 million shares) and, Oil and Gas (4.64 million shares). The three most actively traded stocks were: Diamond Bank (66.55 million shares), FCMB (26.15 million shares) and GTBank (13.87 million shares.
