GTBank, others tumble as Bears take a grip on Stocks

Nigerian bourse closed negative on Thursday following the tumbling of UBA, GTBank, Zenith Bank stocks on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange as All Share index declined further by -0.25% to close at 34,968.94 from 35,056.82 points.

Year-to-date and market capitalization similarly dropped by -0.25% to settle at 30.40% and N18.27 trillion respectively.

A total volume of 289.3 million units of shares, valued at N7.34billion exchanged hands in 4,878 deals. UBA was the most traded shares by volume at 34.4 million units, while MTNN topped by value at N4.37billion.

The market breadth index was negative with 25 losers against 13 gainers. CADBURY (-5.43%) led the laggards today, while ARDOVA (+7.69%) was the top gainer.

The sectoral performance was mixed as the Banking, Insurance, and Consumer Goods indexes dipped -2.07%, -0.82%, and -0.20%, while the Oil & Gas gained +0.35%. The Industrial sector closed flat.

MTN Nigeria led the gainers’ table, its share price going up by 0.77% to close at N156.2. Ardova followed closely as its shares also went up by 7.69% to close at N14, similarly, Red Starex shares also went up by 4.00% to close at N3.38, Cutix by 5.56% to close at N1.9 and UPL appreciated by 4.26% to close at N1.47.

Cadbury topped the losers’ table as its stocks went down by 5.43% to close at N8.7, followed by UBA with shares declining by 5.20% to close at N8.2. Zenith Bank shares also dropped points by 1.88% to close at N23.55. GTBank’s shares went down by 1.47% to close at N33.6.

Nigerian stocks drifted lower at the fourth trading session of the week, as significant sell-offs seen in Nigerian tier -1 banks added pressure on the Nigerian All-Share Index.

Stock experts anticipate more consolidation now as investors become choosier on stocks to buy taking into consideration that experts don’t see any new highs now till next year.