NSE LIVE! Equities relapse as investors await fiscal direction

Nigerian equities turned negative yesterday as investors await clear fiscal and monetary direction from the newly constituted Federal Executive Council (FEC). President Muhammadu Buhari on Wednesday swore in and allocated portfolios to ministers. The stock market greeted the swearing in with a modest gain of 0.12 per cent.

A day after the swearing in and with ministers still taking briefs, investors again went on the defensive. With more than two decliners to a gainer, the overall market position closed negative with average loss of N74 billion or 0.74 per cent.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped from its opening value of N9.974 trillion to close at N9.900 trillion. The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based common index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, declined to 28,798.67 points as against its opening index of 29,014.78 points, representing a drop of 0.74 per cent. Average year-to-date return notched up to -16.90 per cent.

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities said the pullback yesterday was majorly due to the sustained sell-pressure.

“The sustained selling pressure on the bourse may likely be reversed in the sessions ahead as bargain hunters take advantage of the current cheap valuations to make short term gains. However, fundamental investors still continue to await fiscal policy direction from the newly inaugurated federal ministers. We remain bullish in our medium to long term outlook of the market,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

Nestle Nigeria topped the losers’ list with a loss of N7 to close at N810. Seven-Up Bottling Company followed with a drop of N4.40 to close at N180.10. Nigerian Breweries declined by N4.17 to close at N128.83. Lafarge Africa lost N3.75 to close at N90. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated dropped by 58 kobo to close at N17.02. Dangote Sugar Refinery slipped by 21 kobo to close at N6.30. Fidson Healthcare dropped by 15 kobo to close at N2.92. E-Tranzact and Diamond Bank dropped by 13 kobo each to close at N2.57 and N2.62 respectively while Nascon Allied Industries dropped by 10 kobo to close at N7.20.

Total turnover stood at 167.29 million shares worth N1.30 billion in 2,996 deals. Zenith Bank was the most active stock with a turnover of 18.47 million shares worth N315.91 million. Nascon Allied Industries followed with a turnover of 14.6 million shares valued at N104.3 million while Guaranty Trust Bank recorded a turnover of 13.6 million shares worth N319.04 million.

On the upside, CAP led the gainers with a gain of N1.95 to close at N40.95. Stanbic IBTC Holdings rose by 89 kobo to close at N20.89. UACN Property Development Company added 33 kobo to close at N6.94. Ikeja Hotels gathered 15 kobo to close at N3.48 while Dangote Flour Mills chalked up 11 kobo to close at N2.53 per share.

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