NGX opened opened the week on a negative note

Nigerian equities market opened the week on a negative note, as the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.91% to close at 245,278.34 points, while market capitalisation fell by 0.91% to N159.26tn. This moderated the ASI year-to-date (YTD) return to 57.62%, from 59.07% in the previous session.

The decline was driven by losses in DANGCEM (-5.50%), ZENITHBANK (-1.59%) and GTCO (-1.44%), while gains in STERLINGNG (+0.65%), FCMB (+0.46%) and UNILEVER (+0.49%) were insufficient to offset the downturn.

Sectoral performance was negative, with the Industrial goods leading the losers, declining by 2.90%, followed by the Banking index, which fell by 1.40% and the insurance index trailing behind, falling by 0.89%.

Market activity strengthened, as total volume traded advanced by 35.57% to 349.40mn units and value traded grew by 37.94% to N18.03bn. The number of deals also increased by 34.84% to 43,193. ACCESSCORP (-1.93%) led the volume chart with 23.44mn units traded, while ARADEL (+0.00%) topped the value chart with transactions worth N3.84bn.

Market breadth was negative at 0.43x, reflecting eighteen (18) advancers against forty-two (42) decliners. CMFC (+9.97%) led the gainers, while VITAFOAM (-10.00%) led the decliners chart.