NSE LIVE! Equities lose N166bn as profit-taking resurfaces

After two days of consecutive rally, Nigerian equities stumbled on Thursday on the back of a resurgent profit-taking trend as investors sought to monetise capital gains and realigned their portfolios ahead of the month-end.

The sell pressure might also not be unconnected with preparations for the forthcoming Muslim’s main festival of Eid-ul-Kabir.

Benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated a decline of 1.3 per cent, equivalent to net capital loss of N166 billion after investors dumped large-cap stocks in the oil and gas and industrial goods sectors.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dropped from N12.773 trillion to close at N12.607 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)-the main index at the Exchange also declined correspondingly from 37,059.21 points to close at 36,575.86 points. This trimmed the average year-to-date return at the Exchange to 36.10 per cent.

Read also: Access Bank to pay N7.23b interim dividend

With 25 decliners to 19 advancers, most sectoral indices also closed negative. The NSE Industrial Goods Index dropped by 1.9 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index dipped by 1.8 per cent while the NSE Banking Index dropped by 0.4 per cent. On the upside, the NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 0.7 per cent while the NSE Consumer Goods Index inched up by 0.2 per cent.

The oil and gas sector dominated the downtrend. Total Nigeria led the decliners with a loss of N11.20 to close at N216.80. Mobil Oil Nigeria dropped by N10.69 to close at N203.12. Dangote Cement declined by N8.34 to close at N216.56. Presco lost N3.59 to close at N68.39. Guinness Nigeria declined by N2.50 to close at N82. Unilever Nigeria dropped by N2.20 to close at N42.80. MRS Oil and Gas dipped by N1.78 to close at N33.66. Conoil lost N1.52 to close at N29.07 while PZ Cussons Nigeria dropped by N1.28 to close at N25.65 per share.

Total turnover stood at 238.16 million shares valued at N5.49 billion in 4,162 deals. Banking stocks remained atop activities chart. The three most active stocks were Guaranty Trust Bank, with 71 million shares; Access Bank, 37.10 million shares and Zenith Bank, which recorded 21.84 million shares.

On the positive side, Nigerian Breweries led the contrarian stocks with a gain of N2.98 to close at N188. Union Bank of Nigeria followed with a gain of 29 kobo to close at N6 while United Bank for Africa chalked up 21 kobo to close at N9.71 per share.

“As the half-year 2017 earnings release draws to a close, investors have resorted to profit taking –most especially in large cap stocks. Nevertheless, we expect market performance to close positive for the week,” analysts at Afrinvest Securities noted.

 

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