NSE LIVE! Equities lose N41b as investors take profit

The Nigerian stock market reopened on Monday with a strong rush to capitalise and lock in gains made in recent trading sessions.

With a whooping gain of N306 billion in four trading sessions last week, the stock market saw disproportionate degree of profit-taking transactions, which halted the recent uptrend and left the equities with a net capital loss of N41 billion.

Most market-wide and sectoral indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed widespread selling sentiments. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the NSE dropped by N41 billion from its opening value of N9.189 trillion to close at N9.148 trillion.

The All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark value-based index that tracks prices at the NSE, also declined by 0.5 per cent from 26,707.10 points to close at 26,586.56 points.

The negative overall market situation was driven largely by losses recorded by oil and gas and banking stocks, most of which had rallied considerable gains in the previous week.

Most sectoral indices also closed in the negative. The NSE Oil & Gas Index recorded the highest sectoral loss with a decline of 3.6 per cent. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 1.1 per cent.

The NSE Insurance Index declined by 0.81 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index closed flat. However, the NSE Consumer Goods Indexplayed the contrarian with a modest gain of 0.28 per cent.

The negative overall performance raised the negative average year-to-date return to -7.2 per cent.

Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the 27-stock losers’ list with a loss of N20 to close at N390. Seplat’s share price had risen by 20.6 per cent last week. Forte Oil, which share price had risen by 9.4 per cent last week, followed with a loss of N11.33 to close at N104.91. MRS Oil dropped by N2.27 to close at N43.24.

Unilever Nigeria lost N1.97 to close at N37.60. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, which had recorded second highest gain of 21.13 per cent last week, declined by 59 kobo to close at N11.45. NCR dropped by 46 kobo to close at N8.53.

Guaranty Trust Bank (GTB) dropped by 22 kobo to close at N25.28. GTB was among the top gainers last week with a gain of 9.25 per cent. PZ Cussons Nigeria declined by 21 kobo to close at N14.99 while Africa Prudential Registrars and Eterna dropped by 15 kobo each to close at N3.04 and N3 respectively.

Read also: NSE RoundUp! Nigerian equities gain N306bn as global stocks set for Santa rally

Total turnover was below recent average as investo0rs exchanged 262.9 million shares valued at N1.7 billion. Nascon Allied Industries was the most active stock with a turnover of 73.58 million shares valued at N531.06 million.

United Bank for Africa followed with 58.86 million shares worth N263.5 million while Diamond Bank placed third with a turnover of 32.12 million shares valued at N27.7 million.

On the positive side, Guinness Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N7.40 to close at N85. Total Nigeria rose by N2.87 to close at N280. Julius Berger Nigeria added N1.75 to close at N36.75.

Dangote Sugar Refinery chalked up 25 kobo to close at N6.35. Nascon Allied Industries garnered 22 kobo to close at N7.22 while Presco rose by 13 kobo to close at N42.

“Given the uptrend in market performance lately which has been attributed to a rally in oil & gas and banking stocks coupled with selective bargain hunting, the loss today (Monday) can be linked to profit-taking in bellwethers in the two sectors.

However, we expect the bearish sentiment to be short-lived as investment managers rebalance portfolios towards year-end,” Lagos-based dealer on the NSE, Afrinvest Securities stated.

 

 

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