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NSE LIVE! Equities remain negative as investors await Q3 earnings

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NSE LIVE! Equities recover as investors swoop on undervalued stocks

In from Success Allantee … .
The downtrend at the Nigerian stock market slowed down a bit yesterday but the market remained generally negative as investors look forward to third quarter earnings of quoted companies to determine further portfolio decisions.
Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped from N10.359 trillion to close at N10.353 trillion after losses by 23 stocks overwhelmed gains by 18 other stocks. The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, also dropped by 0.6 per cent from its opening index of 30,141.06 points to close at 30,123.20 points.
The decline, the fifth consecutive one for this month and quarter, nudged the negative average year-to-date return at the stock market to -13.08 per cent. The downtrend was further exacerbated by losses by several highly capitalised stocks including Guaranty Trust Bank, Access Bank, Zenith Bank, PZ Cussons Nigeria and Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp).
There was also marked slowdown in momentum of activities. The total value of the stocks traded dropped by 49.5 per cent to N1.91 billion s against N3.79 billion traded in previous trading session. The total volume of stocks traded was 219.55 million shares in 3,126 deals. The three most active stocks, by volume, were Zenith Bank, 34 million shares, Universal Insurance, 33.07 million and United Bank for Africa, which recorded trading of 24.08 million shares.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Negative sentiments widen as equities post 4th-day loss

However, group indices showed mixed performance. The NSE Insurance Index led the losers with a decline of 1.5% – making today its fourth day of consecutive losses. The NSE Banking index also followed in the negative trend after it waned 0.6%. The NSE Oil & Gas index shed a marginal basis point. However, the NSE Consumer Index and NSE Industrial Goods Index recorded gains of 0.2% and 14 basis points respectively.
“Given the sustained negative trend in market performance as investors continued to take profit on the bourse, expectation of third quarter earnings releases is expected to drive investor sentiments in the interim,” analysts at Afrinvest Securities stated.
International Breweries led the losers with a loss of 29 kobo to close at N17.01. Zenith Bank followed with a drop of 25 kobo to close at N16.05. BOC Gases declined by 21 kobo to close at N4.18 while Access Bank slipped by 20 kobo to close at N5.14 per share.
On the other hand, Guinness Nigeria led the gainers with addition of N3.50 to close at N153. Beta Glass followed with a gain of N1.30 to close at N44. Okomu Oil Palm rose by N1.16 to close at N28.66. CAP added 92 kobo to close at N38 while Berger Paints chalked up 49 kobo to close at N10.39 per share.

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