BY BAMIDELE FAMOOFO
For the second consecutive session, the Lagos bourse extended losses as the benchmark Index closed 0.09 percent weaker to close at 52,161.24 points.
The market’s weak performance was driven by losses in Tier 1 banking names, ZENITHBANK (-2.05%), GTCO (-2.44%), and ACCESSCORP (-3.77%).
The loss puts the index on track for a weekly loss. As a result, the ASI’s year-to-date (YTD) return fell to 1.78 percent, while the market capitalisation shed N26.04 billion to close at N28.40 trillion.
Analysis of Thursday’s market activities showed trade turnover settled lower relative to the previous session, with the value of transactions down by 12.04 percent.
A total of 477.37 million shares valued at N5.24 billion were exchanged in 5,539 deals. For the fifth consecutive session, ACCESSCORP (-3.77%) led volume and value charts with 169.32 million units traded in deals worth N1.74 billion.
Market breadth closed negative at a 1.20-to-1 ratio with declining issues outnumbering advancing ones. FCMB (-5.66%) topped seventeen (17) others on the laggard’s table, while ARDOVA (+10.00%) led fourteen (14) others on the leader’s log.
