NSE LIVE! Equities relapse as selling pressure builds up again

In from Success Allantee

After a two-day rally spurred by mild bargain-hunting, Nigerian equities yesterday returned to the negative side with a loss of N22 billion. With more stocks trading on the downside, the topsy-turvy market disregarded largely impressive half-year earnings results released during the trading session.

The All Share Index (ASI), the common value-based index that tracks prices of all quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), dipped by 0.22 per cent to close at 31,267.51 points as against its opening index of 31,332.39 points.

Aggregate market value of all quoted companies simultaneously dropped from N10.725 trillion to N10.703 trillion, representing a drop of N22 billion or 0.22 per cent. The resurgent downtrend yesterday depressed the negative average year-to-date return to -9.78 per cent.

“We expect the market to continue to trade sideways as investors keep an eye on earnings releases,” said analysts at Afrinvest Securities in post trading review.

Two major banks-FBN Holdings and Union Bank of Nigeria (UBN) Plc, were among the companies that released their half-year 2015 results yesterday. The two banks showed considerable improvements in their earnings but these failed to spur any major rally. FBN Holdings’ share price rose by two kobo while Union Bank conversely lost two kobo.

There were 32 decliners against 21 advancers, highlighting the widespread selling sentiments that saw major stocks in the oil and gas, cement, food and banking sectors on the top losses’ list. Nestle Nigeria, Nigeria’s highest-priced stock, led the decliners with a loss of N6.93 to close at N850. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated followed with a drop of N2.40 to close at N19.60. Total Nigeria dropped by N1.95 to close at N163. Cement Company of Northern Nigeria lost 70 kobo to close at N8.90. Lafarge Africa slipped by 50 kobo to close at N99.50. Nascon Industries dropped by 35 kobo to N6.65. Union Homes declined by 28 kobo to close at N5.50. Guaranty Trust Bank, the most capitalised banking stock, lost 24 kobo to close at N25.26. Red Star Express dropped by 22 kobo to close at N4.53 while FCMB Group declined by 19 kobo to close at N2.81.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Investors stake N15.8b as equities gain N97b

Investors staked a total of N2.58 billion on 329.26 million shares in 4,461 deals. United Bank for Africa (UBA) was the most active stock, in terms of volume, with a turnover of 69.45 million shares worth N299.95 million in 156 deals. Union Diagnostics Services recorded a cross deal for 50 million shares worth N25 million while Transnational Corporation of Nigeria (Transcorp) placed third on the activity chart with 37.67 million shares valued at N90.15 million in 321 deals.

On the positive side, PZ Cussons Nigeria recorded the highest gain of N2.12 to close at N30. Seven-Up Bottling Company followed with a gain of N1.85 to close at N185. Beta Glass added N1.79 to close at N37.70. Mobil Oil Nigeria rose by N1 to close at N156 while Flour Mills of Nigeria chalked up 80 kobo to close at N30 per share.

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