NSE LIVE! Equities relapse into year-long negative as sell-off continues

Average year-to-date return at the Nigerian stock market relapsed into the negative on Tuesday as sustained sell-off pushed quoted companies to lower prices. With average decline of 0.85 per cent on Tuesday, sustained price depreciation depressed the average year-to-date return from a modest positive gain of 0.32 per cent to a negative of -0.54 per cent.

There were nearly four losers to every gainer on Tuesday as investors weighed expected delays in the release of the half-year earnings report of many major companies and weak national and corporate fundamentals.

With the sustained depreciation, the inflation-adjusted nominal return at the Nigerian stock market worsened to -17.04 per cent. Inflation soared to a 10-year high of 16.5 per cent in June.

The main index at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the All Share Index (ASI), dropped from 28,733.90 points to close at 28,488.56 points, indicating a day-on-day decline of 0.85 per cent. Aggregate market value of all quoted companies also declined from N9.869 trillion to close at N9.784 trillion, indicating a net loss of N85 billion.

With 26 losers to seven gainers, most sectoral indices closed in the negative. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 2.9 per cent. The NSE Industrial Goods Index declined by 2.0 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index slipped by 1.2 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index depreciated by 0.4 per cent. Meanwhile, the NSE Consumer Goods Index inched up by 0.3 per cent.

Read also: Is APC leading Nigeria on the path to recession?

Lafarge Africa led the losers with a loss of N3.16 to close at N60.06. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with a loss of 89 kobo to close at N21.70. Flour Mills of Nigeria lost 80 kobo to close at N21.50. Oando dropped by 64 kobo to close at N5.96. Stanbic IBTC Holdings declined by 57 kobo to close at N14.92. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated dropped by 30 kobo to close at N13. Zenith Bank slipped by 27 kobo to close at N16.14 while Tiger Branded Consumer Goods dropped by 21 kobo to close at N3.99 per share.

Total turnover stood at 242 million shares valued at N1.56 billion in 3,684 deals. Skye Bank, for the second consecutive day, remained the most active stock with a turnover of 57.71 million shares. Linkage Assurance followed with a turnover of 33.58 million shares while FBN Holdings placed third with a turnover of 23.71 million shares.

Market pundits attributed the downtrend at the stock market to weakening macroeconomic performance and expectations of unimpressive half-year 2016 as many companies filed profit warnings and late filling announcements.

“We expect market performance to remain soft in the next trading session but we do not rule out bargain hunting towards the end of the week,” Afrinvest Securities, a Lagos-based dealer at the NSE, stated.

On the upside, Nigerian Breweries led the gainers with a gain of N1.96 to close at N135.04. UAC of Nigeria followed with a gain of 40 kobo to close at N20.50. Cadbury Nigeria rose by 20 kobo to close at N16.10. Skye Bank added six kobo to close at 72 kobo. AIICO and Ikeja Hotels rose by three kobo each to at 76 kobo and N1.89 while NEM Insurance inched up by one kobo to close at N1.01 per share.

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