Nigeria’s stock market declined by 0.66 percent at the close of trading on Thursday August 29 as investors continued their profit taking actions following recent rally.
The market routed further south despite analysts’ expectation of some position taking decisions in favour of banking stocks ahead of their interim dividends qualification.
Dangote Cement Plc led other stocks in the underperformers’ league.
The stock price of Dangote Cement declined from N165.5 to N162.5, losing N3 or 1.81percent.
MTNN moved down from N140.95 to N138.85, losing N2.1 or 1.49percent. Unilever decreased from N29 to N28, after shedding N1 or 3.45percent. Flour Mills dropped from N14.3 to N13.5, down by 80kobo or 5.59percent. UACN dipped from N5 to N4.55, losing 45kobo or 9percent.
On the gainers table, Nestle Nigeria Plc led the chart after its share price moved up from N1240 to N1245, adding N5 or 0.40percent.
Forte Oil Plc also rallied from N15.4 to N16.45, adding N1.05 or 6.82percent, followed by Total Nigeria Plc which increased from N96.5 to N97.1, adding 60kobo or 0.62percent. FBN Holdings Plc also advanced from N4.8 to N4.95, adding 15kobo or 3.13percent.
The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) All Share Index (ASI) closed lower at 27,425.57 points from 27, 607.02 points recorded the preceding trading day.
The stock market is down by 1.35percent week-to-date (WtD), while month-to-date (MtD) it has lost 1.06percent of its value.
The year-to-date (YtD) return is still in the negative territory of -12.74percent.
The value of listed equities decreased to N13.342trillion. In 3,129 deals, equity dealers exchanged 116,069,148 units valued at N1.651billion. Zenith Bank Plc, Lafarge Africa Plc, Access Bank Plc, Neimeth, and GTBank Plc were actively traded stocks.
