NSE LIVE! Equities open with N30b loss

stockoonseNigerian equities opened this week with a loss of N30 billion as investors sought to take profits from recent rally. With 22 losers to 15 gainers, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed the first trading session of the week with large market orders for sale, which usually reduce share prices.

The benchmark index at the NSE, the All Share Index (ASI)-a common value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, declined by 0.34 per cent to close at 24,765.10 points as against its opening index of 24,850.11 points.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped by N30 billion from N8.548 trillion to close at N8.518 trillion. The downtrend pushed the negative average year-to-date return to -13.54 per cent.

It should be recalled that Nigerian equities rode over early disruptions caused by a technical glitch at the NSE to record a gain of N45 billion last week.

Many analysts had expected profit-taking to moderate the performance of the equities this week, although there were consensus that further inflow of corporate earnings for the first quarter of 2016 can mitigate selling pressure and lift the market to another weekly gain.

“We believe today’s negative close may extend to tomorrow as investors take profit, especially on the stocks that rallied last week. Nonetheless, further influx of first quarter 2016 earnings scorecards is expected to also determine the direction of the market in the interim,” Afrinvest Securities, a Lagos-based dealer at the stock market stated.

Read also : NSE RoundUp! Equities in cautious optimism amidst global rally

Turnover at the stock market also slowed down against the previous trading session with the exchange of 144.67 million shares valued at N766.02 million in 2,729 deals. Banking stocks meanwhile continued to dominate activities chart. The three most active stocks on Monday were Access Bank, with 55.53 million shares; Guaranty Trust Bank, 11.09 million shares and Skye Bank, with 10.27 million shares.

Forte Oil led the losers with a loss of N25.12 to close at N250. Guinness Nigeria followed with a loss of N1 to close at N97. Flour Mills of Nigeria declined by 20 kobo to N20. Union Homes Savings and Loans slipped by 19 kobo to N3.68 while Portland Paints and Products Nigeria dropped by 13 kobo to close at N2.49 per share.

On the positive side, Seven-Up Bottling Company led the gainers with a gain of N2.41 to close at N145. Union Dicon Salt followed with a gain of 55 kobo to close at N11.80. Nigerian Breweries added 39 kobo to close at N106.09. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria rose by 35 kobo to close at N7.45 while Okomu Oil Palm gathered 20 kobo to close at N29.20 per share.

 

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