NSE LIVE! Equities lose N92b in continuing profit-taking

Nigerian equities continued on the downtrend as continuing profit-taking transactions shaved off N92 billion from the market capitalisation of the quoted companies. 

For the second consecutive trading session in the fourth quarter, the market closed on the negative, with widespread selling pressure within the highly capitalised stocks.

The All Share Index (ASI), the value-based common index that tracks prices of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), declined by 0.95 per cent from 28,277.93 points to close at 28,009.40 points. 

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped from N9.713 trillion to close at N9.621 trillion. The average year-to-date return thus worsened to -2.21 per cent. With 22 losers to 20 gainers, the negative market situation was driven largely by losses recorded by highly capitalised stocks. 

Most sectoral and group indices closed in the negative. The NSE Banking Index declined by 2.3 per cent. The NSE Oil and Gas Index dropped by 1.4 per cent. The NSE Industrial Goods Index lost 0.6 per cent while the NSE Consumer Goods Index slipped by 0.4 per cent. Meanwhile, the NSE Insurance Index appreciated by 0.07 per cent.

Forte Oil led the losers with a loss of N7.40 to close at N158.50. PZ Cussons Nigeria dropped by N2.01 to close at N18.69. Dangote Cement lost N1.99 to close at N181.01. Unilever Nigeria declined by N1.10 to close at N45.90. Flour Mills of Nigeria dropped by N1.05 to close at N20.05. 

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities start last quarter negative

Guaranty Trust Bank lost 89 kobo to close at N24.10. Zenith Bank declined by 57 kobo to close at N15. Dangote Flour Mills lost 19 kobo to close at N3.88. Nigeria Aviation Handling Company dropped by 17 kobo to N3.29 while Conoil lost 10 kobo to close at N33. 

Investors traded a total of 187.15 million shares worth N1.47 billion in 3,132 deals. Access Bank was the most active with a turnover of 29.96 million shares worth N164.5 million. FCMB Group followed with 26.6 million shares valued at N30.76 million while Zenith Bank placed third with 20.9 million shares valued at N316.4 million.

On the upside, Seven-Up Bottling Company led the gainers with a gain of N6.80 to close at N145.80. Okomu Oil Palm rose by N1.90 to close at N39.90. Transcorp Hotels added 25 kobo to close at N5.28. Dangote Sugar Refinery gathered 15 kobo to close at N6.50 while Red Star Express and Oando chalked up 13 kobo each to close at N4.03 and N5.60 respectively.

“We expect the market to mostly trade sideways in the remaining sessions of the week as investors anticipate earnings results for third quarter of 2016,” Afrinvest Securities, a Lagos-based dealer at the Exchange, stated.

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