NSE! Equities open with N149bn loss

After losing N240 billion last week, Nigerian equities reopened on Monday with a hangover of the downtrend with nearly two decliners for every advancer. Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed average decline of 1.01 per cent, equivalent to net capital loss of N149 billion within the five-hour trading session on Monday.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the benchmark index that tracks share prices at the NSE declined from its opening index of 40,841.14 points to close at 40,429.18 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped from its opening value of N14.753 trillion to close at N14.604 trillion.

With 30 decliners against 17 advancers, most sectoral indices also closed in the red. The NSE Industrial Goods Index dropped by 3.9 per cent. The NSE Banking Index depreciated by 0.9 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index dipped by 0.9 per cent while the NSE Oil and Gas Index closed flat. However, the NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 0.9 per cent.

The momentum of activities also slowed down considerably with investors exchanging 287.04 million shares valued at N4.95 billion in 4,285 deals. This represented about 43 per cent and 15.4 per cent decline in volume and value of activities respectively. FBN Holdings was the most active stock with a turnover of 29.58 million shares valued at N359.1 million. Skye Bank followed with a turnover of 23.12 million shares worth N15.04 million while FCMB Group placed third with a turnover of 22.95 million shares valued at N53.94 million.

Read also: NSE! Equities rebound with N46bn gain

Unilever Nigeria led the decliners with a drop of N4.80 to close at N55. Lafarge Africa followed with a loss of N3.20 to close at N41. Dangote Cement declined by N2.90 to close at N252. Guinness Nigeria lost N1 to close at N103 while Dangote Flour Mills declined by 65 kobo to close N13.15 per share.

On the positive side, GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria led the advancers with a gain of N1 to close at N30. Champion Breweries and Cement Company of Northern Nigeria followed with a gain of 20 kobo each to close at N2.48 and N18 respectively. Fidson Healthcare and NAXA Mansard Insurance rose by 12 kobo each to close at N5.80 and N2.52 respectively while Caverton Offshore Support Group added 11 kobo to close at N2.90 per share.

Analysts remained optimistic about the prospects of a rebound. “Following the losses in large and mid-cap stocks observed in today’s trading session, this presents attractive entry opportunities for investors, thus, we do not rule out possibility of bargain hunting in the near term ahead of the release of first quarter 2018 results,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

Cordros Capital also noted that despite continued selloffs, the outlook for Nigerian equities remains positive citing relatively lower share prices and as well as positive macroeconomic fundamentals.

 

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