NSE: Bears consolidate hold as banking stocks trend southward

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on its bearish track Wednesday with most banking stocks losing value.

The market lost of 45bps, bringing the YtD return -1.09%.

Major stocks, including the banking stocks drove the loss in the market. The market breadth was 0.77x which was indicative of the poor market mood, as 27 stocks appreciated against 35 stocks that depreciated. NEIMETH, MAYBAKER and ROYALEX led the gainer’s chart with a day change of 9.52%, 4.87% and 4.76% in that order. The biggest losers in the market were COSTAIN (-5%), TRANSEXPR (-4.97%) and UNIONDICON (-4.93%).

All sector indices shed points save for the NSEOILG5 which gained 1.72%.  Seven (7) banking stocks lost in the day’s trading; with UBA and FIDELITYBK the major losers among the banking pack.

The Negative trend manifested by banking stocks have attributed to the new Cash Reserve Requirement of the Central Bank of Nigeria, which kicked in this week, resulting in the withdrawal of N750 billion from the banking system.

Forte Oil and OANDO continued to drive the gains in the Oil and Gas sector with returns of 2.8% and 1.10% respectively, as the stocks are still riding on investor’s positive sentiment.

Across markets in Africa, the Nigerian equities market (-0.45%) followed behind the Zambian exchange (-0.55%) in the pack of losers today , while the Ghanaian and Kenyan markets were the top gainers for the day with a day return of 2.57% and 1.43% in that order.