NSE LIVE! Equities reopen on downtrend as sell pressure persists

After losing N91 billion last week, Nigerian equities reopened on Monday on the downside as emerging third-quarter earnings failed to stir substantial investors’ appetite needed to moderate the selling pressure that has seen share prices depreciating in recent trading sessions.

With 19 decliners to 11 advancers, the stock market reopened on Monday with obvious widespread selling sentiments, although the momentum of the price decline appeared to slow down. Turnover of activities was also below average as investors await the inflow of more third quarter earnings reports.

Key indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) indicated average decline of 0.08 per cent, equivalent to a loss of N8 billion.The All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark index for the stock market, declined marginally from its opening index of 27,596.82 points to close at 27,574.95 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped correspondingly from its opening value of N9.479 trillion to close at N9.471 trillion. Average year-to-date return remained negative at -3.73 per cent.

Nearly all sectoral indices also closed in the negative with the exception of the Industrial Goods Index, which rose by 0.37 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index declined by 0.6 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index dropped by 0.3 per cent. The NSE Banking Index also slipped by 0.3 per cent while the NSE Consumer Good Index declined by 0.02 per cent.

Mobil Oil Nigeria, which last week announced divestment by its majority core investor, ExxonMobil, led the losers with a loss of N4.46 to close at N185.54. Cadbury Nigeria followed with a loss of N1.25 to close at N11.88. PZ Cussons Nigeria dropped by 83 kobo to close at N16.65. Union Bank of Nigeria declined by 25 kobo to close at N4.50 while Ecobank Transnational Incorporated and Oando lost 17 kobo each to close at N9.96 and N5.03 respectively.

Total turnover stood at 101.18 million shares valued at N1.06 billion in 2,256 deals. Zenith Bank, which released its third quarter report on Monday, was the most active stock with a turnover of 20.79 million shares worth N311.93 million. Guaranty Trust Bank followed with 9.52 million shares worth N230.55 million while Access Bank recorded a turnover of 7.85 million shares valued at N44.35 million.

On the positive side, breweries led the contrarian stocks. Guinness Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries topped the gainers’ list with a gain of 50 kobo each to close at N80.50 and N145.50 respectively. Lafarge Africa rose by 49 kobo to close at N43.50. Zenith Bank added 25 kobo to close at N15 while Vitafoam Nigeria chalked up 6.0 kobo to close at N2.64 per share.

“Weakened macroeconomic fundamentals coupled with expectations of unimpressive earnings scorecards continue to drag investor sentiment in equities. Barring any positive news to stoke investor sentiment, we expect market to trade sideways in the sessions ahead,” Afrinvest Securities stated on the market direction in the next trading sessions.

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