Chinwendu Obienyi
Huge profit-taking by investors in banking stocks, equity transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) triggered bearish, with the All Share Index (ASI) dropping further by 0.15 per cent or 62.19 basis points to close at 40,615.42 points.
Accordingly, the month-to-date and year-to-date returns inched lower to -1.55 per cent and 6.24 per cent respectively even as the sustained sell pressure on value stocks peeled off N22 billion from the market capitalisation to close at N14.712 trillion.
Consequently, the Banking (-1.35 per cent) index remained negative and was the sole loser among other indices, while gains resurfaced in the Consumer Goods (+1.42 per cent), Insurance (+0.95 per cent), and Industrial Goods (+0.08 per cent) indices respectively. The Oil & Gas index on the other hand closed flat.
Market breadth remained negative, albeit narrower, with 25 losers and 12 gainers. Veritaskap led the laggards with 9.52 per cent decline to close at 0.38 kobo per share.