BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
The bears dominated the domestic bourse as the NGX All-Share Index (ASI) fell by 0.12 percent to settle at 54,359.90 points on Thursday.
The ASI’s year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 6.07 percent and the market capitalization lost N36.57 billion to close at N29.61 trillion.
The market’s weak performance was primarily driven by selloffs in ZENITHBANK (-0.40%), GTCO (-0.20%), NB (-2.63%) and GEREGU (-2.44%). Nevertheless, the market remains on track for another weekly gain.
Analysis of Thursday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled higher relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions up by 67.69 percent. A total of 222.58 million shares valued at N3.04 billion were exchanged in 3,287 deals. GTCO (-0.20%) led the volume and value charts with 22.32 million shares traded in deals worth N560.37 million.
Market breadth closed negative at a 1.88-to-1 ratio, with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones. GLAXOSMITH (-7.91%) topped fourteen (14) others on the laggard’s log, while CHAMS (+8.33%) led seven (7) others on the leader’s table.