The Nigerian local bourse on Thursday lost all the gain recorded in Wednesday’s session to return to the bearish territory as it dropped by 3.12%, costing investors to shed N370 billion.
At the close of the day’s trading, the ASI Index lost about 711.06 to close at 22,078.58 and the market capitalization fell to N11.506 trillion.
Consequently, Year-to-Date (YtD) returns on equities worsened to-17.8%.
Market dealers explained that the day’s loss was main major selloffs investors in blue-chip stocks included MTN Nigeria, falling by -4.8% and Dangote Cement with -3.3% drop.
Activities also slowed down during the session as volume and value of trade declined by 21.69 per cent and 55.16 per cent respectively. Similarly, market breadth followed suit with 22 declining stocks against 13 gainers.
[READ MORE: Bulls charge Nigerian bourse, investors gain N128.49 billion)
Top gainers
The gainers include AFRIPRUD as it gained N0.32 to close at N3.55. INTBREW followed with a gain of N0.25 to close at N5.50.
Others include Dangote Sugar, Sterling Bank and Livestock that added N0.15, N0.09 and N0.05 to their share prices to close N10, N1.08 and N0.60 respectively.
Top losers
Nestle led 21 other declining stocks of the day as it shed N30 to close at N850. MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank and WAPCO declined by N5.00, N4.40, N1.35 and N0.70 to close at N99.5, N129, N12.15 and N10.10 respectively.
Fixed Income
Bonds are traded mixed on Thursday as gains on the short and long ends of the curve offset the losses on the mid-end. Bid-ask spreads on 10-yr and 30-yr bonds have narrowed by c. 12bps, indicating improved trading liquidity.
Value traded so far is c. N6.3 billion, with most flows on the 2023 and 2029 bonds. For bills, it has been a quiet day following the announcement of an OMO auction by the CBN.
The back end of the OMO curve is down by 25bps as market players expect auction to close lower than secondary market levels.
Value traded is c.N146 billion, with most flows being structured deals on December and February OMO notes.
