NSE LIVE! Equities hit new low as selloff worsens

Nigerian equities continued on the downtrend on Wednesday as the fourth consecutive negative trading session shaved off N70 billion from equities’ values and pushed the negative average year-to-date return to double digit.

With nearly six losers to every gainer, the Nigerian stock market was on a selling spree on Wednesday, crashing several equities to their lowest prices in recent period.

Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) showed average decline of 0.79 per cent, equivalent to a loss of N70 billion on Wednesday.

The decline worsened the negative average year-to-date return to double-digit at 10.44 per cent. This implies inflation-adjusted return of -28.77 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI), the common index that tracks prices at the Exchange, slipped to 25-week low at 25,653.14 points as against its opening index of 25,857.06 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped from N8.901 trillion to close at N8.831 trillion.

Most group and sectoral indices closed on the negative as there were only six gainers against 33 losers. The NSE Oil & Gas Index declined by 1.8 per cent. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 1.2per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index slipped by 0.9 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index dropped by 0.3 per cent. On the upside, the NSE Industrial Goods Index inched up by 0.08 per cent.

Large-cap stocks dominated the top losers’ list. Nestle Nigeria recorded the highest loss of N14.97 to close at N800. Seven-Up Bottling Company dropped by N13.96 to close at N129.36. Forte Oil lost N6.98 to close at N87.02. Flour Mills of Nigeria dropped by 94 kobo to close at N17.94. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria declined by 75 kobo to close at N14.25 while Stanbic IBTC Holdings dropped by 52 kobo to close at N15.98 per share.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities continue slide with N45bn loss

“Performance of the equities market has been uninspiring in the past one month, with the broader index down 7.9 per cent within the period. This could be explained by investors’ pessimism regarding macroeconomic fundamentals particularly foreign exchange market illiquidity, high discount rate and bearish forward earnings expectation.

However, given the current downtrend, some stocks have fallen to attractive positions for bargain hunters and we see domestic investors taking advantage of these opportunities in sessions ahead,” Afrinvest Securities, a Lagos-based trader at NSE,stated.

Total turnover stood at 145.74 million shares valued at N1.35 billion in 2,421 deals. Zenith Bank was the most active stock with 19.32 million shares valued at N272.1 million. Access Bank followed with 16.9 million shares worth N91.3 million while United Bank for Africa placed third with 12.63 million shares worth N53.81.

On the positive side, International Breweries led the gainers with a gain of 89 kobo to close at N19.89. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated rose by 19 kobo to N9.71. Union Bank of Nigeria added 14 kobo to close at N4.30.

Lafarge Africa chalked up 10 kobo to close at N44.10. Fidson Healthcare gathered 6.0 kobo to close N1.29 while Africa Prudential Registrars inched up by 3.0 kobo to close at N2.63 per share.

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