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Equities open with N46bn loss amidst continuing sell-off

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Nigerian equities reopened on Monday with a continuing overhang of sell pressure as investors sought to take profits from earlier capital appreciation and readjust their portfolios.

The two main value indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE)-the

All Share Index (ASI) and aggregate market value showed that investors lost N46 billion at the end of the first trading session of the week, representing an average day-on-day decline of 0.38 per cent.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the Exchange declined from N12.068 trillion to close at N12.022 trillion. The ASI-which doubles as Nigeria’s sovereign index for the equities market, dropped from 35,005.57 points to close at 34,873.07 points. This depressed the average year-to-date return to 29.76 per cent.

With 18 decliners to 14 advancers, the downtrend was driven by widespread sell sentiment, especially within the oil and gas and consumer goods sectors. The NSE Oil & Gas Index led the decliners with 3.0 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index dipped by 1.2 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index slipped by 0.8 per cent. However, the NSE Banking Index rose by 0.9 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index inched up by 0.2 per cent.

Read also: Union Bank to launch N50bn rights issue Wednesday

Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the decliners with a loss of N24.03 to close at N456.76. Nigerian Breweries followed with a drop of N5 to close at N170. Presco dipped by N2.49 to close at N58. Lafarge Africa dropped by 97 kobo to close at N49. Oando slipped by 30 kobo to close at N5.75. FBN Holdings dropped by 19 kobo to close at N5.41. Access Bank lost 17 kobo to close at N9.73 per share. Cutix lost 13 kobo to close at N2.60 while Dangote Flour Mills and Nigeria Aviation Handling Company (Nahco) dropped by 10 kobo each to close at N6.35 and N3 respectively.

Total turnover stood at 162.73 million shares valued at N1.54 billion in 3225 deals. Access Bank was the most active stock with a turnover of 35.39 million shares valued at N354.24 million. Meyer Paints followed with 18.9 million shares worth N13.24 million while Fidelity Bank ranked third with 18.61 million shares worth N23.99 million.

On the positive side, Guaranty Trust Bank led the contrarian stocks with a gain of N1 to close at N38. Cadbury Nigeria rose by 49 kobo to close at N11. Newrest ASL appreciated by 32 kobo to close at N6.82. Stanbic IBTC Holdings rose by 30 kobo to close at N39.50. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated added 20 kobo to close at N18. Dangote Sugar Refinery chalked up 7.0 kobo to close at N13.72 per share. Fidson Healthcare added 6.0 kobo to close at N3.10. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria and C & I Leasing appreciated by 5.0 kobo each to close at N8.80 and N1.24 respectively while NEM Insurance added 3.0 kobo to close at N1.22 per share.

“Given our medium-term positive outlook on the equities market, the continuous downtrend in performance presents opportunities for investors who were unable to partake in the April-led rally; hence we expect to see an uptrend in market performance as investors source for bargains”, Afrinvest Securities-a Lagos-based dealer at the Exchange stated.

 

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