The NSEASI pared 2.19% to record the second consecutive loss for the week, as YtD return plunged to -1.09%. Market breadth (0.24x) favoured decliners, as 11 stocks advanced against 46 decliners. Volume traded surged by 21.02%, while market turnover waned by 43.91%.
AGLEVENT led the gainers’ chart with a 9.68% gain, closely followed by COSTAIN, NEIMETH, LEARNAFRCA and RTBRISCOE with respective gains of 7.89%, 6.41%, 4.35% and 3.80%. Contrarily, OANDO led the losers with a 9.73% loss and closed at NGN15.78. Other major underperformers included UAC-PROP (-7.46%), WAPIC (-7.02%), UBCAP (-6.85%) and GUARANTY (-5.70%).
Similar to yesterday’s outcome, all sector indices closed with negative returns, with NSEBNK10 (-3.46%) and NSEOILG5 (-3.63%) recording the highest losses, trailed by NSEFBT10 (-1.93%) and NSEINS10 (-1.91%).
We attribute the current bearish trend to profit-taking on stocks which recorded major gains during the period of market upturn, earnings releases and dividend declarations. We envisage a persistence in this trend for the rest of the week until stocks become relatively cheaper and attractive for position-taking.
