MTNN, Zenith Bank, others drag Nigerian equity market down 0.09%

The Nigerian equity market extended its decline on Tuesday, dipping 0.09 per cent due to profit-taking on bellwether stocks like MTNN, Zenith Bank and 11 others.

The All-Share Index (ASI) was down by 23.37 absolute points, representing 0.09 per cent drop to close at 24,930.88 points, as the Market Capitalization shed N12.19 million, representing 0.09 per cent dip to close at N13.01 trillion, taking the year-to-date loss to  -7.1 2 per cent.

FIDSON added 10 per cent to emerge top of the 13 gainers, while NEIMETH lost 9.91 per cent to top 21 other losers.

The volume and value of stocks traded moderated by 1 5.7 per cent and 1.5 per cent to 200 million units and ₦1.5 8billion, respectively.

The most active stocks by volume were FBNH (2 6.9 4m units), Zenith Bank (22.63m units) and FCMB (21.25m units), while Zenith Bank (₦386.46 million), GTBank (₦271.96 million) and MTNN (₦170.87millio) led the value chart.

The Services sector was the only gainer, up by 0.44 per cent due to gains in CAVERTON (+7.3 5%), REDSTAREX (+4.6 8%) and UPL (+4.1 7%).

On the other hand, ICT and Consumer Goods sectors were down 0.86 per cent and o.29 per cent on the back of selloffs in Flour Mill (-6.68%), MTNN (-0.86%) and Guinness (-0.28%). Banking sector dipped 0.25 per cent, driven by losses by FBNH (-1.9 0%) and Zenith Bank (-0.62%), while Oil & Gas sector and Healthcare sectors were 0.19 per cent and 0.12 per cent on the back of losses suffered by NEIMETH (- 9.9 1%) and OANDO (-2.7 8%).