NSE LIVE! Equities lose N185bn as downtrend widens

For the third consecutive trading session, Nigerian equities on Wednesday traded mostly on the negative side, closing with a net capital loss of N185 billion.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the main index for the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), declined by 1.48 per cent to close at 35,629.13 points as against its opening index of 36,165.93 points.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped by N185 billion to close at N12.280 trillion compared with its opening value of N12.465 trillion.

The downturn was impacted by losses recorded in medium and large capitalised stocks, amongst which are; Mobil, Dangote Cement, Guinness, Forte Oil and Unilever Nigeria.

There were 31 losers against seven gainers. Cutix led the gainers’ table with 9.95 per cent to close at N2.43 per share. May and Baker followed with a gain of 4.51 per cent to close at N3.01, while Continental Reinsurance appreciated by 4.48 per cent to close at N1.40 per share.

Also, Total Nigeria went up by 2.75 per cent to close at N234 and NEM Insurance rose by 1.01 per cent to close at N1 per share.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities continue decline with N53bn loss

On the other hand, First Aluminum and Nahco the laggards’ table by five per cent each, to close at 57 kobo and N3.23 per share, respectively. Mobil trailed with a loss of 4.99 per cent to close at N165.11, Dangote Sugar declined by 4.89 per cent to close at N13.22, while Honeywell Flour went down by 4.29 per cent, to close at N2.10 per share.

However, activity level improved as volume and value traded surged 66.1 per cent and 93.8 per cent to 239.9 million units and N2.9 billion respectively. Transactions in the shares of Fidelity Bank topped the activity chart with 42.81 million shares valued at N58.21 million. Sterling Bank followed with 39.16 million shares worth N39.89 million, while Access Bank traded 33.03 million shares valued at N324.8 million. UBA traded 29.48 million shares worth N279.73 million and FBN Holdings transacted 12.95 million shares valued at N74.14 million.

Capital market operators said Nigeria’s equity market has been on continued volatility, reflecting investors’ wait-and-see attitude as pullback continued on a selloff ahead of the long holiday declared for Friday and Monday, as well as to pick bills associated with the season.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities noted that the continuous decline in market performance as seen in previous sessions presents an opportunity for bargain hunters to take advantage of stocks that had declined.

“Hence, we anticipate a rebound in the equities market in subsequent trading sessions this week,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

Analysts at APT Securities and Funds Limited pointed out that the market has experienced a three days consecutive weight shedding this week and this is not unconnected to losses in big-cap stocks.

According to analysts, the equities market also portrays basically investors’ reaction towards profit taking as Eid-ulKabir break steps in amongst other reasons.

“As a result, we expect the market to experience an upturn in the month of September amidst mixed sentiment,” APT Securities and Funds stated.

 

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