NSE LIVE!… Equities in tight trades

In from Success Allantee…

A combination of bargain-hunting and hold-and-wait sentiments created a tight market situation on Tuesday at the Nigerian stock market. Benchmark indices indicated marginal decline of 0.01 per cent, equivalent to a loss of N1 billion, but volume and value of transactions also dropped substantially, both underlining the reluctance on the demand and supply side.

The downtrend today was marginal compared with a positive start of 0.38 per cent gain on Monday, but it highlighted the topsy-turvy at the stock market as investors await clear macroeconomic signals.

The All Share Index (ASI), the value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), slipped from its opening index of 33,383.97 points to close today at 33,380.84 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped marginally from N11.396 trillion to close at N11.395 trillion.

The market situation remained cautious with resurgent stocks counterbalancing the downsides from the supply side. With 26 decliners to 17 advancers, losses by the market’s largest stocks such as Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries and Guinness Nigeria had set up the market for a major slide, but the overall market situation was moderated by substantial rally in the oil and gas sectors.

Turnover slowed down considerably with 25 per cent and 41.6 per cent declines in volume and value of activities respectively. Total turnover today stood at 208.09 million shares worth N2.24 billion in 3,790 deals as against 278.11 million shares valued at N3.83 billion traded in 3, 771 deals.

“The “wait and see” strategy on fiscal policy may be ebbing as investors now anticipate half year earnings highlights of listed stocks. We anticipate more buying activity in the equities market in the short term as marginal swings continue,” said analysts at Afrinvest Securities in post-trading comment.

But analysts at SCM Capital Markets said the market might remain on the low side in the meantime. “Given the absence of market catalyst to spur sentiments to the upside, we do not anticipate any change in current market mood,” SCM Capital Markets stated.

Average year-to-date return inched up to -3.68 per cent. Dangote Cement, Nigeria’s most capitalised stock, topped the losers’ list with a loss of N1.35 to close at N174.15. Total Nigeria followed with a loss of 60 kobo to close at N158.50. Nigerian Breweries, the second most capitalised stock on the NSE, dropped by 56 kobo to close at N150.01. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria lost 40 kobo to close at N11.60. Guinness Nigeria and Champion Breweries declined by 35 kobo each to close at N163.80 and N6.65 respectively. Union Bank of Nigeria slipped by 34 kobo to close at N9.57 while Unilever Nigeria dropped by 33 kobo to close at N45.17 per share.

On the other hand, Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the contrarian stocks with a gain of N15.79 to close at N331.59 per share. Forte Oil followed with a gain of N8.90 to close at N188.65. Mobil Oil Nigeria gathered N7.30 to close at N153.31 per share. University Press rose by 45 kobo to close at N6.50. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated added 44 kobo to close at N22.49 while Zenith Bank added 40 kobo to close at N19.90 per share.

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