NSE LIVE! Equities slump to new low as sell-off worsens

Nigerian equities’ benchmark index slipped below the 28,000 points to 27,000 points on Thursday as investors remained unimpressed by first-half corporate earnings. With 34 decliners to six advancers, the benchmark index for the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), the All Share Index (ASI), dropped from 28,221.18 points to 27,997.29 points, its lowest index point in the second half.

The average decline of 0.79 per cent on Thursday, equivalent to a net loss of N77 billion, depressed the average year-to-date return to -2.25 per cent and worsened the inflation-adjusted nominal real return to -18.75 per cent.

Aggregate market value of all quoted equities on the NSE declined from N9.693 trillion to close at N9.693 trillion.

All sectoral and group indices closed in the red as investors sought to readjust their portfolios. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 2.6 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index lost 0.2 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index declined by 1.0 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index slipped by 0.3 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index slipped by 0.01 per cent

Nestle Nigeria, Nigeria’s highest-priced stock, led the losers with a loss of N15 to close at N835. Cadbury Nigeria followed with a loss of 89 kobo to close at N15.20. Guinness Nigeria dropped by 84 kobo to close at N95.95. Stanbic IBTC Holdings lost 71 kobo to close at N13.49. Guaranty Trust Bank declined by 70 kobo to close at N21 per share.

Ecobank Transnational Incorporated dropped by 58 kobo to N12.33. Oando lost 47 kobo to close at N4.92. UAC of Nigeria dropped by 41 kobo to close at N20.09. Dangote Sugar Refinery declined by 31 kobo to closed at N6.49 while Flour
Mills of Nigeria dropped by 20 kobo to close at N21.50 per share.

Total turnover stood at 227.13 million shares valued at N1.80 billion in 3,426 deals. Skye Bank was the most active stock with 54 million shares valued at N45.89 million. United Bank for Africa followed with a turnover of 41.33 million shares worth N182 million while Zenith Bank recorded a turnover of 21.66 million shares valued at N332.55 million.

On the positive side, Nigerian Breweries led the gainers with a gain of N1.90 to close at N137. CAP followed with a gain of N1 to close at N36. Tiger Branded Consumer Goods rose by 8.0 kobo to N3.93. Skye Bank added 7.0 kobo to close at 85 kobo. Wema Bank rose by 5.0 kobo to close at 78 kobo while AG Leventis inched up by 4.0 kobo to close at 97 kobo per share.

Market pundits were largely negative on the immediate outlook of the stock market, citing the weak corporate earnings and the tough macroeconomic performance

“We expect market performance to remain weak in the interim amid influx of poor second quarter 2016 earnings numbers,” analysts at Afrinvest Securities stated.

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