NSE LIVE! Equities open with marginal decline

Nigerian equities opened this week on a negative note as profit-taking transactions by investors pressured the overall market situation to a marginal loss of N12 billion. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) dropped from its opening value of N9.491 trillion to close at N9.479 trillion, representing a loss of N12 billion.

The All Share Index (ASI), the common value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, declined slightly from 27,634.42 points to close at 27,598.54 points, representing a marginal decline of 0.13 per cent. With this, the average year-to-date return now stands at -3.64 points.

Losses in the banking, oil and gas and consumer goods sectors weighed down the overall market position. The NSE Banking Index declined by 1.3 per cent. The NSE Oil and Gas Index slipped by 0.5 per cent while the NSE Consumer Goods Index dropped slightly by 0.1 per cent. On the other hand, the NSE Insurance Index rose by 1.5 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index appreciated by 0.6 per cent.

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Total Nigeria led the 24-stock losers’ list with a loss of N7.45 to close at N162.55. Guinness Nigeria followed with a drop of N2.95 to close at N99.05. Julius Berger Nigeria declined by 90 kobo to close at N42.10. Stanbic IBTC Holdings dropped by 78 kobo to close at N14.97. Flour Mills of Nigeria lost 70 kobo to close at N21.30. Guaranty Trust Bank droped by 40 kobo to close at N18.80 per share. Vitafoam Nigeria lost 28 kobo to close at N4.15 while Union Bank of Nigeria declined by 27 kobo to close at N5.20 per share.

Analysts attributed the negative market situation mainly to profit-taking transactions. FSDH Securities stated that “profit takers dominated the first trading day of the week”.

“Today’s negative performance was broadly driven by profit taking as expectations of the Apex Bank’s announcement on a flexible exchange rate policy stifles momentum. We expect the market to continue southwards tomorrow,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

Turnover also dropped below average with the exchange of 142.33 million shares valued at N1.43 billion in 3,695 deals. Low-priced banking stocks dominated the top activities chart. The three most active stocks were: Diamond Bank, with 14.98 million shares; FCMB Group, 14.80 million shares and Access Bank, with 14.01 million shares.

On the upside, Dangote Cement and CAP led the 16-stock gainers’ list with a gain of N1.50 each to close at N171 and N38 respectively. Union Dicon Salt followed with a gain of N1.27 to close at N13.70. Ashaka Cement rose by N1 to close at N21.03. International Breweries added 40 kobo to close at N20 per share while Nascon Allied Industries rose by 38 kobo to close at N8.38 per share.

 

 

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