NSE LIVE! Blue chips negate equities’ rally

Nigerian equities set off on the second quarter with a broad rally on Monday but losses by three highly capitalised companies overwhelmed the overall market position, underlying the influence of a handful of stocks on key variables at the stock market.

With exactly four advancers to a decliner, the equities market showed widespread positive sentiment as investors continued to react to the corporate earnings reports and dividend recommendations by quoted companies. Not less than 50 quoted companied had in the past two trading sessions submitted their annual earnings reports for the 2016 business year.

There were 28 gainers against seven losers at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday as the equities market opened to intense bargain-hunting and scramble for dividend-paying companies. However, the inclusion of the three most capitalised companies among the losers undermined the overall market position.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped from its opening value of N8.829 trillion to close at N8.745 trillion, representing a drop of N84 billion. The All Share Index (ASI)-the benchmark index for the market, also declined by 0.95 per cent from its opening index of 25,516.34 points to close at 25,273.03 points. This built up the negative average year-to-date return to -5.96 per cent.

Read also: NSE RoundUp! Nigerian equities in modest rally amidst earnings rush

The decline in overall market position was mainly due to losses recorded by Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries and Guaranty Trust Bank, the three most capitalised companies at the Exchange. Dangote Cement, the most capitalised company, lost N3.90 to close at N161.10. Nigerian Breweries, the second most capitalised company, declined by N1.85 to close at N125.15 while Guaranty Trust Bank, the third most capitalised company and the highest-ranking financial stock, dropped by 59 kobo to close at N24.31. Total Nigeria had led the losers with a drop of N9.98 to close at N260 while Eterna also declined by 16 kobo to N3.23 per share.

The losses by highly capitalised companies also reflected on the sectoral indices. In banking, the NSE Banking Index declined by 1.6 per cent. The NSE Industrial Goods Index dropped by 0.7 per cent while the NSE Consumer Goods Index slipped by 0.1 per cent. However, the NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 1.1 per cent while the NSE Oil and Gas Index inched up by 0.23 per cent.

Most equities meanwhile closed on the upside. Mobil Oil Nigeria led the rally with a gain of N15 to close at N315. Seven-Up Bottling Company followed with a gain of N4.05 to close at N87.05. CAP rose by N1.41 to close at N29.61. UAC of Nigeria gathered N1.33 to close at N14.33 while Nascon Allied Industries chalked up 72 kobo to close at N7.82 per share.

The momentum of activities however slowed considerably as investors on both sides of the pricing balance appeared to be holding to their volumes and weighing the next move. Total turnover stood at 97.69 million shares valued at N682.76 million in 2,634 deals. The three most active stocks were Fidelity Bank, with 26.69 million shares; Diamond Bank, 9.77 million shares and United Bank for Africa, which recorded a turnover of 9.33 million shares.

Market analysts said they expected corporate earnings to continue to moderate pricing trend in the meantime.

 

 

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