Index down 0.61% Thursday as bears continue dominance on NSE

The bears continued to dominate the equities market, as the Nigerian Stock Exchange All-share Index (ASI) closed lower, for the third consecutive session, by 0.61 per cent to 37,733.44 points, amidst sell pressures in bellwether stocks.

As a result, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date losses increased to 0.97 per cent and 1.33 per cent respectively.

The Banking (-0.72%) index was the sole loser among the major sector indices, following selloffs of GUARANTY (-1.60%) and ZENITHBANK (-0.40%) shares. Meanwhile, returns in the Industrial Goods (+1.45%), Consumer Goods (+0.53%), and Insurance (+0.19%) indices were positive, owing to demands for WAPCO (+5.00%), CADBURY (+4.00%), and LAWUNION (+9.30%) shares. The Oil & Gas index closed flat.

Market breadth remained negative, with 20 losers and 16 gainers, led by EQUITYASUR (-4.55%) and HONYFLOUR (+9.55%) respectively.

Total volume and value of trades increased by 11.47% and 39.99% to 414.93 million units and NGN4.45 billion respectively, exchanged in 3,354 deals.

“In our view, continued sideways trading calls for a cautious approach towards equity investing among investors, amidst absence of a near-term one-off positive catalyst in the short-to-medium term. However, still-positive macroeconomic fundamentals remain supportive of gains in the long term”.        Analysts at Cordros Capital said.