At the close of trading yesterday, the All Share Index (ASI) shed 67.93 points, representing 0.1 per cent drop, to close at 55,956.59 points. Also, market capitalisation depreciated by N37 billion to close at N30.469 trillion.
The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Dangote Cement, Stanbic IBTC Holdings, Nigerian Breweries, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria and John Holt.
Analysts at Vetiva Dealings and Brokerage said: “Going into tomorrow, we expect the market to trade in a similar manner as investors continue to favor the oil marketing space, while maintaining a cautious stance across other sectors.”
However, market breadth closed positive, as 41 stocks gained relative to 13 losers.
John Holt led the losers’ chart by 9.68 per cent, to close at N1.4 per share. Caverton Offshore Support Group followed with a decline of 7.14 per cent to close at N1.3, while Wapic Insurance declined by 6.52 per cent to close at 43 kobo.
GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria depreciated by 5.30 per cent to close at N7.15, while Stanbic IBTC Holdings declined by 3.02 per cent to close at N45.
First City Monument Bank shed 2.17 per cent to close at N4.50 kobo. Nigerian Breweries depreciated by 1.80 per cent to close at N41. Honeywell flourmills dropped 1.45 per cent to close at N3.40 kobo. Dangote cement fell by 1.38 per cent to close at N286.
Oando lost 1.21 per cent to close at N5.72 kobo. International Breweries depreciated by 1.00. Wema Bank also shed 49 per cent to close at N4.08 kobo.
E-Tranzact International, Japaul Gold & Ventures, Prestige Assurance, Secure Electronic Technology, Sovereign Trust Insurance and Unity Bank recorded the highest price gain of 10 per cent each to close at N4.84, 44 kobo, 44 kobo, 33 kobo, 44 kobo and 66 kobo respectively.
MRS Oil Nigeria followed with a gain of 9.96 per cent to close at N59.60 kobo. Cornerstone Insurance appreciated by 9.90 per cent to close at N1.11 kobo. Eterna rose by 9.80 per cent to close at N13.45 kobo. PharmDeko added 9.72 per cent to close at N2.37 kobo.
The total volume traded increased by 33.74 per cent to 531.785 million units, valued at N7.682 billion, and exchanged in 6,061 deals.
Transactions in the shares of United Bank for Africa (UBA) topped the activity chart with 177.476 million shares valued at N1.724 billion. NPF Microfinance Bank followed with 51.803 million shares worth N93.295 million, while Access Holdings traded 32.103 million shares valued at N412.987 million.
Zenith Bank traded 30.824 million shares valued at N863.315 million, while Dangote Sugar Refinery sold 19.303 million shares worth N407.969 million.
