Nigerian Stocks Extend Losses on Thursday

• Nigerian Stocks Extend Losses on Thursday

The Nigerian Stock Exchange extended losses on Thursday as stocks of banks and industries declined.

The market capitalisation declined from N11.586 trillion on Wednesday to N11.474 trillion on Thursday, another N111.4 billion lost after a decline of N134 billion was recorded on Wednesday.

All-Share Index depreciated by 0.96 percent to close at 30,771.32, taking the index year-to-date loss rose from -1.1 percent to -2.1 percent.

Activity on the trading floor dropped as volume and value traded declined by 21.6 percent and 27.8 percent to 169.190 million units and N1.128 billion, respectively.

The oil and gas was the only sector that gained on Thursday, rising by 0.64 percent on renewed interest in Forte share.

Industrial goods index declined the most, dropping 2.83 percent as prices of Cement Company of Northern Nigeria Plc and Lafarge Africa Plc dragged on the index.

The banking sector dipped 2.15 percent, with the insurance dropping 0.12 percent.

“Despite the bearish performance of the market, good bargains in fundamentally sound stocks exist,” said Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited. “We expect investors to take positions in these stocks even as pre-election jitters continue.”