NSE LIVE! Equities lose N104b as selling pressure mounts

Investors lose N104 billion in accrued capital gains yesterday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as widespread selling pressure overturned a subtle three-day rally. With nearly tow decliners to a gainer, losses recorded by severally highly capitalised stocks further compounded the underlying selling sentiments.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based common share index that tracks prices of all quoted equities at the NSE, declined by 1.08 per cent to 27,533.03 points as against its opening index of 27,833.89 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities declined from N9.570 trillion to close at N9.466 trillion, representing a loss of N104 billion or 1.08 per cent.

Further sectoral analysis showed declines across most sectors. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 2.9 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index lost 2.7 per cent. The NSE Industrial Goods Index dropped by 1.0 per cent. However, the NSE Insurance Index rose by 0.04 per cent.

The decline yesterday nudged the average year-to-date return at the stock market to -20.56 per cent.
The negative market position was driven by widespread selling sentiments and losses recorded by several highly capitalised stocks in the oil and gas, banking, breweries and building materials sectors. Forte Oil led the 28-stock losers’ list with a loss of N12.75 to close at N235.90. Nigerian Breweries, the second most capitalised stock on the NSE, dropped by N2.50 to close at N113. Lafarge Africa lost N1.99 to close at N90.01. Seven-Up Bottling Company dropped by N1.90 to close at N181.10. Presco declined by N1.50 to close at N31. Zenith Bank slipped by 94 kobo to close at N14.35. Guaranty Trust Bank dipped by 69 kobo to close at N18.90. Dangote Cement, the most capitalised stock on the Exchange, dropped by 43 kobo to close at N170.72. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria lost 38 kobo to close at N7.40 while Oando dropped by 29 kobo to close at N5.70 per share.

Momentum of activities also rose above average as investors turned to low-priced stocks, otherwise known as penny stocks. Total Turnover stood at 485.04 million shares valued at N4.45 billion in 2,798 deals. Multiverse, which trades at 50 kobo, was the most active stock with a turnover of 146.14 million shares worth N73.07 million in two deals. Guinea Insurance, another 50 obo stock, followed with a turnover of 127.13 million shares valued at N63.50 million while United Bank for Africa recorded a turnover of 27.54 million shares worth N102.99 million.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities stated that the decline highlighted the tendency for the market to fluctuate largely towards the negative in the meantime, although the long-term outlook remains positive.

“The sustained bearish sentiment in the bourse corroborates with our short term bearish outlook for the market. Nevertheless, we expect to see some bargain hunting in the session ahead as technical traders are likely to take position in fundamentally sound counters trading at cheap valuation multiples after the selling pressure in the last two sessions,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

On the other hand, Mobil Oil Nigeria led the 16-stock gainers’ list with a gain of N6.30 to close at N132.41. Unilever Nigeria followed with a gain of N3.50 to close at N45.50. Guinness Nigeria added N1.75 to close at N124.90 per share. Total Nigeria added N1.01 to close at N148.01. Julius Berger Nigeria rose by 45 kobo to close at N37.81. Flour Mills of Nigeria gathered 20 kobo to close at N19.50 while Berger Paints rose by 15 kobo to N9.85 per share.

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