NSE LIVE! Equities lose N108b as high-cap stocks dwindle

Quoted equities suffered a relapse on Tuesday after investors placed a large swathe of highly capitalised stocks on sale. After six days of sustained uptrend, investors turned to take profit on highly capitalised stocks that had driven the rally, leaving the market with its first loss in seven days.

Aggregate market capitalisation of all quoted equities dropped by N108 billion from N8.539 trillion to close at N8.431 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)- the value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, declined to 24,514.91 points as against its opening index of 24,827.50 points. The negative average year-to-date return worsened to -14.4 per cent.
With 19 losers to 16 gainers, the negative market position was driven by losses recorded by highly capitalised stocks such as Dangote Cement, Seven-Up Bottling Company, Nestle Nigeria, Nigerian Breweries, and Flour Mills of Nigeria.

“The Nigerian bourse headed southwards mainly due to profit taking activities in the industrial and consumer goods sectors, particularly in Dangote Cement and Nestle Nigeria,” Cowry Asset Management Limited, a Lagos based investment firm, stated.

The NSE Industrial Goods Index dropped by 2.1 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index shed 0.6 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index declined by 1.54 per cent while the NSE Oil and Gas Index closed flat. However, the NSE Banking Index inched up by 0.2 per cent.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Dangote Cement saves equities from relapse

Dangote Cement, NSE’s most capitalised stock, led the losers with a loss of N5.99 to close at N146. Seven-Up Bottling Company dropped by N4.50 to close at N170. Nestle Nigeria, NSE’s highest-priced stock, dropped by N3 to close at N667. Nigerian Breweries, Nigeria’s second most capitalised stock, declined by N1.17 to close at N96.03 while Flour Mills of Nigeria dropped by 50 kobo to close at N19 per share.

Turnover remained around average with the exchange of 290.94 million shares valued at N2.88 billion in 2,946 deals. Guaranty Trust Bank was the most active stock with a turnover of 100.48 million shares valued at N1.66 billion. Zenith Bank followed with a turnover of 35.91 million shares valued at N413.6 million while Fidelity Bank recorded a turnover of 33.9 million shares worth N43.7 million.

On the positive side, Guinness Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N2.08 to close at N120.80. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria followed with a gain of N1.04 to close at N21.93. Portland Paints Products Nigeria added 16 kobo to close at N3.90 while FBN Holdings rose by 14 kobo to close at N3.91 per share.

“We expect market performance to continue to be driven by short term speculations and full year earnings releases,” Afrinvest Securities, a dealer on the NSE, stated.

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