NSE LIVE! Equities hit new low as investors dump shares

Nigerian equities slumped to new lows yesterday as global crude oil price declined to 12-year low at $30 per barrel. With four decliners to every marginal advancer, all price indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed in the red.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped by N109 billion, representing average day-on-day decline of 1.2 per cent. The decline on Tuesday pushed the average year-to-date return to -9.1 per cent. The All Share Index (ASI)- the common value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted companies on the Exchange, dropped to a 31-month low at 26,034.93 points as against its opening index of 26,350.18 points.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also declined from N9.062 trillion to a new low at N8.953 trillion. All group and sectoral indices also indicated widespread selling sentiments. The NSE Banking Index recorded the highest loss at -3.1 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index dropped by 1.7 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index dropped by 0.6 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index lost 0. Per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index dropped marginally by 0.01 per cent.

Investors appeared to be shifting the selling pressure to their liquid stocks, especially those that have managed to retain relative gains in recent period. A turnover of 91.62 million shares valued at N1.65 billion was recorded on Guaranty Trust Bank.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities lose N234b amidst selling pressure

“Against the backdrop of the bearish outlook for equities and weak full year earnings projection across sectors, we expect sentiments to remain weak on the bourse and advice cautious positioning for retail investors with short term investment horizon,” Afrinvest Securities stated in post trading review.

Nigerian Breweries, NSE’s second most capitalised stock, was the highest loser with a loss of N4.22 to close at N102.02. PZ Cussons Nigeria followed with a loss of N1.08 to close at N21.13. Ashaka Cement dropped by 96 kobo to close at N24.24. Cadbury Nigeria lost 81 kobo to close at N15.49. Guaranty Trust Bank declined by 65 kobo to close at N17.25.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Zenith Bank lost 63 kobo each to close at N16.15 and N12.08 respectively. Berger Paints and UAC of Nigeria dropped by 50 kobo each to close at N10 and N19.56 respectively while UACN Property Development Company dropped by 29 kobo to close at N5.51 per share.

Total turnover rose above recent average with the exchange of 223.385 million valued at N2.51 billion. Beside Guaranty Trust Bank, other most active stocks included FBN Holdings, with 20.97 million shares worth N88.43 million and United Bank for Africa, with 17.94 million shares worth N53.32 million.

On the upside, Portland Paints and Products Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of 19 kobo to close at N4.13. Champion Breweries rose by 16 kobo to close at N3.38. Eterna added 8.0 kobo to close at N1.69 while May and Baker Nigeria and Access Bank inched up 5.0 kobo each to close at N1.05 and N4.60 respectively.

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