Investors drop large-cap stocks amid bearish sentiment

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index declined further on Friday, closing the second trading week in the month on a negative note.

The ASI fell by 0.13 per cent to 38,648.48 points, as highly capitalised stocks shed weight amid negative investors’ sentiment.

The market capitalisation also fell by 0.13 per cent to close at N20.22trn, leaving investors with a loss of N25.48bn.

At the closed of Friday’s trading, the year-to-date loss of the ASI declined to -4.02 per cent as 23 stocks lost, while 17 gained.

Blue-chip stocks such as MTN Nigeria, Lafarge Africa, Guaranty Trust Bank and Zenith Bank moderated by 1.25 per cent, 0.23 per cent, 0.65 per cent and 0.47 per cent respectively, amid sustained investors’ sell-offs.

The sectoral performance was weak as three out of the five indices tracked closed in the red zone.

While the banking, oil and gas and industrial indices dropped by 0.09 per cent, 0.23 per cent and 0.01 per cent respectively, the insurance and consumer goods indices rose by 1.32 per cent and 1.09 per cent respectively to close in the green zone.

The trading activity picked up as total deals, volume and value of stocks traded rose.

At the close of Friday’s trading, the total volume of trade rose by 73.58 per cent to 169.35 million units valued at N3.77 in 293.97 deals.