The Nigerian Exchange closed the last trading week today on a bearish note, following sell-offs in Tier-1 banks UBA (-5.96%), ACCESSCORP (-4.07%), and ZENITHBANK (-3.03%).
As a result, the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.29% to 141,845.35 points, while market capitalization declined by N264.31 billion to close the week’s trading at N89.74 trillion.
Data from the Nigerian Exchange Group (NGX) on the day’s trading trend indicated that sectoral performance was characterized by investor weak sentiment, with all indices ending in the red except Consumer Goods, which advanced by 0.61% on the back of gains in GUINNESS (+6.37%) and NB, offsetting losses in CHAMPION, DANGSUGAR, INTBREW, and MCNICHOLS.
According to the data, the Banking index led the losers chart, declining by 1.93%, as investors reacted to corporate actions and dividend declarations just as the Insurance sector extended its week-long losing streak, depreciating by 1.27% following steep declines in LIVINGTRUST (-10.00%), VERITASKAP (-9.91%), and SUNUASSUR (-5.79%).
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Also, Oil & Gas and Industrial indices marginally dipped, due to unimpressive performances of JAPAULGOLD, OANDO, AUSTINLAZ, and CUTIX.
On the trading activity in the equities market, UBA dominated, accounting for 18.85% of total volume and 24.00% of value but the stock price declined by 5.96% to N44.20 after the company announced a dividend of N0.25 per share, indicating a 87.5% decline from the N2.00 paid to shareholders in the previous year.
The data further showed that the market breadth further reflected the bearish sentiment, as 43 decliners outnumbered 11 advancers, translating to a breadth ratio of 0.26x and an advancer-to-total ratio of 0.10.
