Trading activity on the floor of the Nigerian Exchange Limited continued on a bearish trend on Tuesday, as the All-Share Index declined by 1.81 per cent to close at 37,847.07 points.
The negative sentiment saw investors lose N363.92bn, as the market capitalisation closed at N19.73tn to leave the N20tn mark.
Amid sustained profit-taking activity, 23 companies’ stocks declined compared to 18 that traded up. Also, the year-to-date loss of the ASI worsened to -6.01 per cent.
The share prices of mid and large capitalised stocks such as Airtel Africa, Zenith Bank, BUA Cement, Presco and Cornish Metals moderated by 10 per cent, 2.71 per cent, 0.42 per cent, 4.47 per cent and 7.27 per cent respectively.
Sectoral performance remained weak as three out of the five indices tracked closed southwards.
The banking, insurance and industrial indices fell by 0.07 per cent, 0.39 per cent and 1.13 per cent, while the consumer goods and oil and gas indices rose by 0.02 per cent and 0.05 per cent respectively.
Trading activity picked up as total deals, volume and value of stock traded rose. Thus, at the close of the day’s trading, the volume of stocks declined by 4.33 per cent to 218.27 million units, valued at N2.73bn in 3,524 deals.
