Nigerian bourse starts the week negative as Index down 0.68% Tuesday

The Nigerian bourse started the week negative, with the All-Share Index (ASI) dropping for the third consecutive session, by 0.68 per cent to 38,664.15 points, as profit taking ensued in banking stocks.

Thus, the Month-to-Date and Year-to-Date returns dipped to 1.47 per cent and 1.10 per cent respectively.

The Banking (-2.25%) index recorded the largest loss, as investors booked profit in all tier I banks’ stocks – UBA (-3.64%), ZENITHBANK (-3.41%), ACCESS (-2.36%), GUARANTY (-1.20%), and FBNH (-0.92%).

The Oil & Gas (-0.70%), Insurance (-0.60%), and Industrial Goods (-0.43%) indices also closed negative, owing to profit taking in FO (-4.87%), PRESTIGE (-6.25%), and CCNN (-0.95%) stocks, respectively.

On the flip side, the Consumer Goods (+0.06%) index closed positive, following interests in INTBREW (+6.54%) shares.

Market breadth turned negative, with 34 losers and 12 gainers, led by PRESTIGE (-6.25%) and INTBREW (+6.54%) shares. Total volume and value of trades increased by 16 per cent and 16.57 per cent to 390.47 million units, and NGN6.12 billion, respectively, exchanged in 3,889 deals.

“Our outlook for equities market remains positive in the medium to long term, as still-positive macroeconomic fundamentals suggest legroom for gains still exist” Analysts at Cordros Capital said.