By Dipo Olowookere
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed on Thursday 0.84 percent lower as the negative investor sentiment continued.
The year-to-date returns ended at -16.27 percent after significant losses across the market segments with the exception of the banking index, which slightly appreciated by 0.01 percent.
For example, the industrial index shed 3.34 percent yesterday, the consumer goods index fell by 2.31 percent, while the insurance index depreciated by 1.55 percent as the oil and gas index crashed by 0.72 percent.
At the close of business, the All-Share Index (ASI) lost 270.56 points to settle at 32,022.23 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N98 billion to close at N11.691 trillion.
With a total of 27 stocks depreciating in value yesterday against the nine appreciating equities, the market breadth again finished negative.
Nestle Nigeria closed as the day’s highest price loser after going down by N81 to finish at N1398 per share.
CCNN followed with a loss of N2.75k to end at N25.10k per share, while Conoil went down by N2.40k to settle at N21.90k per share.
Lafarge depreciated by N2.30k to end at N20.70k per share, while Forte Oil declined by N1.40k to close at N17.50k per share.
On the other side, it was a good day trading day for GTBank as its shares rose by 35 kobo to settle at N32.95k per share.
It was followed by UBA, which gained 10 kobo to end at N7.15k per share, and Nigerian Breweries, which also went up by 10 kobo to finish at N84.10k per share.
Unity Bank added 7 kobo to its share value to close at 85 kobo per share, while Skye Bank appreciated by 6 kobo to settle at 67 kobo per share.
A look at the activity chart showed that equities in the Financial Services sector had a field day yesterday with 139.7 million units worth N1.7 billion exchanging hands, followed by stocks in the Consumer Goods space, which pulled 8.7 million units valued at N811 million.
Business Post reports that shares of GTBank were the darling of investors yesterday, accounting for 28.2 million units worth N929.8 million.
It was followed by Zenith Bank, which sold 25.9 million equities valued at N514.6 million, and Skye Bank, which exchanged 18.9 million shares worth N11.2 million.
UBA traded 16.3 million shares for N116.2 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 7.4 million equities for N58.9 million.
At the end of the day, investors exchanged a total of 173.6 million shares valued at N3.7 billion in contrast to the 246.9 million units worth N6.9 billion sold the previous day, indicating a 29.7 percent decline in the volume traded and 46.44 percent decrease in the value of shares transacted on Thursday.
