Profit-taking in ACCESSCORP, UNILEVER and DANGSUGAR drives stock market to 0.25% decline

• The Nigerian stock market opened the week bearish, as the NGX All Share Index (ASI) declined by 0.25% to close at 153,739.11 points. Consequently, the Year-to-Date (YTD) return eased to 49.37% from 49.74% in the previous session, while the market capitalisation contracted by N245.88bn to settle at N97.58trn.
• The negative sentiment was driven by profit-taking in select mid-cap stocks including ACCESSCORP (-3.07%), UNILEVER (-4.29%), and DANGSUGAR (-2.56%), which offset buying interest in selected stocks such as OKOMUOIL (+3.74%), INTBREW (+6.53%), NAHCO (+7.62%)
• Market activity decline sharply, as the transaction volume and value eased by 87.94% and 44.64%, respectively. UBA (+1.12%) led the volume chart with 136.84 units traded, worth N5.54bn value of trades.
• Market breadth closed negative at 0.51x, indicating that more decliners than gainers. UNIONDICON (+9.93%) leading the nineteen (19) gainers, while HONYFLOUR (-10%) top the thirty-seven (37) decliners. 

NASD Summary

• The NASD opened this week with a positive momentum, as the NASD Securities Index (NSI) and market capitalisation rose by 0.14%, closing at 3,630.67 points and N2.16trn, respectively.
• The market activity rose, with transaction volume and value rising by 959.75% and 2,955.91%, respectively.
• SDFCWAMCO (+0.87%) topped the market gainers with no decliners recorded in today’s session.