NSE LIVE! Equities lose N5 billion in tight market

Nigerian equities traded under a tight balance of bargain-hunting and profit-taking on Tuesday at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) as some investors sought to take profit from a two-week rally while simultaneously positioning for third quarter earnings.

With 20 losers to 18 gainers, the market situation was tight but losses recorded by highly capitalized stocks coloured the overall market position, which dropped by N5 billion.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the NSE dropped marginally from N9.709 trillion to close at N9.704 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI), the sovereign benchmark for the Nigerian stock market, also slipped from 28,263.16 points to close at 28,248.86 points. Average year-to-date return now stands at -1.37 per cent.

The negative performance was driven by losses recorded in the oil and gas sector. The NSE Oil and Gas Index dropped by 0.9 per cent. However, the NSE Insurance Index inched up by 0.4 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index followed with a gain of 0.3 per cent. The NSE Banking Index inched up by 0.1 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index closed flat.

Presco Plc led the losers with a loss of N4 to close at N41. Conoil followed with a loss of N3 to close at N36. Seven-Up Bottling Company declined by N2.05 to close at N142.50. Ashaka Cement lost N1.93 to close at N18.02. Forte Oil dropped by 85 kobo to close at N160. Oando declined by 27 kobo to close at N5.32.

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Stanbic IBTC Holdings dropped by 20 kobo to N16.75 while Guaranty Trust Bank and Champion Breweries dropped by 10 kobo each to close at N24.99 and N2.50 respectively.

Total turnover stood at 294.9 million shares valued at N1.41 billion in 3,142 deals. Livestock Feeds emerged the most active stock with a turnover of 104.6 million shares worth N89.96 million. FCMB Group placed second with a turnover of 43.92 million shares valued at N46.82 while United Bank for Africa ranked third with 20.15 million shares valued at N84.56 million.

“Today’s weak performance of the benchmark index despite improvement in sentiment can be attributed to profit taking in oil & gas counters which offset the impact of portfolio managers positioning in other sectors ahead of month-end portfolio rebalancing.

Yet, market performance continues to fluctuate in margins and is expected to remain soft in the short term in the absence of any major trigger,” analysts at Afrinvest Securities stated.

On the upside, Guinness Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N4.64 to close at N97.64. Nestle Nigeria rose by N1 to close at N826. Flour Mills of Nigeria added 96 kobo to close at N22. UACN Property Development Company chalked up 34 kobo to close at N3.74 while Zenith Bank rose by 15 kobo to close at N15.60 per share.