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NSE LIVE! Equities lose N107b as bears rattle high-cap stocks

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Nigerian equities lost N107 billion in five hours of trading on Monday as the stock market reopened to a resurgent downtrend, which became more evident on highly capitalised stocks that control the market position.
The benchmark index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated average loss of 1.07 per cent, equivalent to N107 billion, as most equities closed in the red. With 25 losers to 10 gainers, the steep decline was driven by both the spread of the losses as well as substantial losses that outweighed relatively low gains.
Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped from its opening value of N9.915 trillion to close at N9.808 trillion, representing a loss of N107 billion. The All Share Index (ASI)-a value-based common index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, also dropped from its index on board of 28,841.67 points to close at N28.532.81 points.
The steep decline worsened the negative average year-to-date return to -17.67 per cent, diminishing hopes that the market could recover and close with a modest gain or flat. Analysts at FBN Capital had predicted that Nigerian equities will close 2015 almost flat.
The depreciation yesterday was orchestrated by losses recorded by highly capitalised stocks such as Dangote Cement, Zenith Bank, Guaranty Trust Bank, Flour Mills of Nigeria, Stanbic IBTC Holdings and Nigerian Breweries among others.
“Although the current market trend has seen some stocks fall to attractive technical positioning for bargain hunters, the impact of the weakening fundamentals of the economy on depressed earnings of companies will continue to douse fundamental investors’ appetite for equities. We maintain that investors with a short holding period trade cautiously,” analysts at Afrinvest Securities stated in post-trading review.
Nigerian Breweries led the losers with a loss of N2.69 to close at N125.01. Stanbic IBTC Holdings dropped by N1.04 to close at N19.85. Dangote Cement declined by 92 kobo to close at N162 while Guaranty Trust Bank and Zenith International Bank declined by 87 kobo and 82 kobo to close at N22.51 and N16.18 respectively.
Total turnover stood at 202.22 million shares valued at N1.09 billion in 2,619 deals.

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