NSE LIVE! Equities’ losses worsen to N163bn

The downtrend at the Nigerian stock market worsened considerably on Tuesday as investors lost N163 billion in a massive price depreciation that brought many equities to their lowest prices in recent period.

Against the marginal declines witnessed in the previous trading sessions, increased sell orders pushed the market to the buyers’ side, closing most transactions at lower prices. The All Share Index (ASI), the value-based common index that tracks prices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), declined by 1.73 per cent from its opening index of 27,574.95 points to close at 27,098.52 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped by N163 billion from N9.471 trillion to close at N9.308 trillion.

With 27 losers to 11 gainers, the downtrend was driven by both losses suffered by highly capitalised stocks such as Dangote Cement and widespread losses across the sectors. Average year-to-date return worsened to -5.39 per cent.

Nearly all sectoral indices closed in the negative, underlining the widespread selling sentiments at the market. The NSE Industrial Goods Index dropped by 2.1 per cent. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 0.71 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index slipped by 0.2 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index declined by 0.1 per cent. However, the NSE the Oil & Gas Index appreciated by 0.53 per cent.

Read also:   NSE LIVE! Equities reopen on downtrend as sell pressure persists

Dangote Cement, NSE’s most capitalised stock, recorded the highest loss of N8.83 to close at N174.17. Ashaka Cement followed with a loss of N1.31 to close at N12.26. GlaxoSmithKline Consumer Nigeria lost 75 kobo to close at N15.03. Flour Mills of Nigeria dropped by 65 kobo to close at N19.35 while International Breweries lost 55 kobo to close at N19.40 per share.

On the positive side, Mobil Oil Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N 4.46 to close at N190. Seplat Petroleum Development Company rose by N3.60 to close at N390. Presco gathered N2.05 to close at N42.30. Lafarge Africa added N1.01 to close at N44.51 while Vitafoam Nigeria inched up by 4.0 kobo to close at94 kobo.

Total turnover stood at 113.49 million shares valued at N1.23 billion in 2,435 deals. Zenith Bank International was the most active stock with a turnover of 19.24 million shares worth N288.4 million. Access Bank followed with a turnover of 12.54 million shares worth N70.84 million while FCMB Group placed third with 11.94 million shares worth N13.12 million.

“Although the significant decline in the benchmark index today is mainly attributable to sell pressure on DANGCEM, the weak level of market breadth indicates broad-base tepid sentiment for equities and also validates our earlier opinion on underperformance of equities in the short-term on the back of macro pressures. Nonetheless, the significant decline today offers bargain hunting opportunities, thus we expect a slight retracement in subsequent sessions,” Afrinvest Securities stated in post-trading review.

 

 

 

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