Equities resume downward trend after Eid al-Fitr

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday extended its bearish performance for the third consecutive trading session on the back of losses in market bellwethers to resume the week after a two-day Eid al-Fitr holiday.

The All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark index of the NSE, dropped by 68 basis points to close at 38,664.15 points, while the Year-to-Date return stood at 1.10 percent.

Investors lost a total sum of N95 billion, as market capitalisation of traded equities, which opened at N14.101 billion, fell to close at N14.006 trillion.

At the close of business, the local bourse recorded 34 gainers against 12 losers as NSE Banking, NSE Oil & Gas and NSE Industrial Indices were down by 2.25 percent, 0.70 percent and 0.48 percent, respectively.

Apparently, the negative performance could be linked to the high selloffs in banking stocks.

Unilever recorded the highest loss during the day, shedding N2 to close at N53 per share. Forte Oil trailed by dropping N1.80 to close at N35.15 per share, while Flour Mill went down by N1.60 to close at N31.15 per share.

National Salt Company of Nigeria lost N1.15 to close at N22.80 per share, while Zenith Bank was down by 90k to close at N25.50 per share.

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Conversely, International Breweries led the gainers’ table by adding N2.70 to close at N44 per share. Eterna followed with a gain of 31k to close at N6.61 per share, while Ikeja Hotels garnered 14k to close at N2.99 per share.

Nigerian Breweries went up by 10k to close at N110.10 per share, while C & I Leasing recorded 9k gain to close at N1.82 per share.

A breakdown of the activities chart indicates that United Bank for Africa was the most active stock, trading 123 million shares valued at N1.304 billion.

Zenith Bank exchanged 35.8 million shares worth N919.94 million, while Access Bank transacted 34.8 million shares valued at N365.54 million

Cement Company of Northern Nigeria sold 32.7 million shares worth N850.36million, while Guaranty Trust Bank recorded a turnover of 23 million shares valued at N927.14 million.

In all, investors bought and sold 390.47 million shares valued at N6.115 billion achieved in 3,889 deals.

This was in contrast with a turnover of 173.92 million shares worth N1.243 billion traded in 1,826 deals recorded on last Thursday.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities Limited anticipate that the bearish run would continue as profit taking across market bellwethers is sustained in subsequent trading sessions.

They, however, believe investors would start to take advantage of bargain hunting opportunities by the end of the week.

 

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