NSE’s ASI drops by 0.57% amid profit-taking

The Nigerian Stock Exchange All-Share Index moderated by 0.57 per cent to close at 39,267.11 points on Tuesday amid renewed profit-taking.

The market capitalisation also fell by 0.57 per cent to close at N20.54tn.

At the close of the day’s trading, investors suffered a loss of N118.38bn.

While 22 stocks advanced relative to 13 stocks that fell, the year-to-date loss of the ASI rose to -2.49 per cent.

Sell pressure pushed the share prices of Dangote Cement, Julius Berger, Ecobank Transnational and AIICO Insurance to drop by 4.02 per cent, 2.68 per cent, 4.72 per cent and 3.97 per cent respectively.

Sectoral performance was mixed. Of the five indices tracked, the banking and consumer goods indices rose by 0.94 per cent and 0.07 per cent to close in the green territory.

While the insurance and industrial indices fell by 0.16 and 1.90 respectively, the oil and gas index closed flat.

Compared to Monday’s trading session, trading activity on Tuesday dropped to the negative territory, as total deals, volume and value of stocks fell.

The total volume of trade dipped by 35.63 per cent to 336.12 million units valued at N3.27bn in 4,394 deals.