NSE LIVE! Equities lose N51b in renewed selloff

The modestly positive underlying sentiment at the Nigerian stock market gave way to major selloff on Wednesday as investors appeared to be unexcited by the corporate earnings season.

With more than two decliners to every advancer, aggregate market value of quoted equities declined by N51 billion.

The downtrend was driven largely by renewed selloff in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCGs) sector, which most analysts saw as a melting point for the Nigerian foreign exchange crisis. In spite of subsisting dividend announcements by Nigerian Breweries and Zenith Bank, both stocks ranked among the top losers.

The All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), declined by 0.58 per cent from 25,329.08 points to close at 25,183.10 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped from N8.766 trillion to close at N8.715 trillion. The average year-to-date return worsened to –6.29 per cent.

Read also: NSE LIVE! High-cap stocks depress equities

Sectoral indices showed a largely negative market situation. The NSE Consumer Goods Index declined by 1.3 per cent. The NSE Banking Index followed with a drop of 1.2 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index closed flat. Meanwhile, the NSE Oil & Gas Index rose by 1.0 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index inched up by 0.01 per cent.

There were 19 losers against eight gainers. Guinness Nigeria led the losers with a loss of N3.24 to close at N62.11. Nigerian Breweries followed with a loss of N2.38 to close at N126.82. Cadbury Nigeria lost 75 kobo to close at N7.80. Zenith Bank declined by 70 kobo to close at N14. Forte Oil declined by 68 kobo to close at N47.01. Okomu Oil Palm slipped by 38 kobo to close at N46. UAC of Nigeria lost 30 kobo to close at N13.35 while Flour Mills of Nigeria slipped by 20 kobo to close at N17.60.

Total turnover stood at 228.02 million shares valued at N2.39 billion in 2,958 deals. Zenith Bank was the most active stock with 81.7 million shares worth N1.18 billion. United Bank for Africa followed on the activities chart with 27.26 million shares valued at N135.8 million. United Capital ranked third with 22.6 million shares worth N78.7 million.

Meanwhile, Seplat Petroleum Development Company led the gainers with a gain of N12 to close at N400 per share. Vitafoam Nigeria followed with a gain of 8.0 kobo to close at N1.80. NPF Microfinance Bank and Nigerian Aviation Handling Company added 5.0 kobo each to close at N1.17 and N2.50 respectively. NEM Insurance chalked up 2.0 kobo to close at 83 kobo while Sterling Bank, United Bank for Africa and Guaranty Trust Bank rose by 1.0 kobo each to close at 74 kobo, N5.01 and N24.71 respectively.

Analysts said corporate earnings so far have failed to lift the mood of the market.

“We expect the market to trade side-ways. We however note that the market is yet to respond to the positive impulses arising from recent impressive earnings,” SCM Capital stated.

“Given that positive earnings results from bellwether banking and industrial goods equities are yet to lift market sentiment, we remain bearish on shorter term equities market performance,” Afrinvest Securities added.

 

 

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