NSE LIVE! High-cap stocks depress equities

The underlying sentiment at the Nigerian stock market was broadly positive on Tuesday but losses by a handful of highly capitalised stocks overshadowed the overall market position.

A major selloff in Zenith Bank International Plc, which declared N63.4 billion dividend on Monday, and profit-taking transactions on the leading brewers muted the spreading bargain-hunting as investors prepare for increased inflow of corporate earnings report.

While there were 15 advancers against 12 decliners, the overall market position closed negative with average day-on-day decline of 0.17 per cent, equivalent to a loss of N15 billion. This nudged the average year-to-date return to a two-month return of -5.75 per cent.

The All Share Index (ASI), the main index that tracks prices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), declined from its opening index of 25,373.42 points to close at 25,329.08 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities also dropped from N8.781 trillion to close at N8.766 trillion.

The negative market position was driven mainly by losses suffered by Nigerian Breweries, Guinness Nigeria, Forte Oil and Zenith Bank. Nigerian Breweries, NSE’s second most capitalised stock, recorded the highest loss of N2.80 to close at N129.20. Guinness Nigeria followed with a loss of N2.65 to close at N65.35. Forte Oil dropped by N2.51 to close at N47.69. Dangote Sugar Refinery lost 17 kobo to close at N6.02 while Presco and Zenith Bank declined by 10 kobo each to close at N47 and N14.7 respectively.

Read Also: Dangote Cement shareholders to split N145bn

Total turnover rose to 444.5 million shares valued at N3.65 billion in 3,336 deals. Continental Reinsurance was the most active stock with a turnover of 203.19 million shares valued at N203.19 million. Zenith Bank followed with 107.25 million shares worth N1.59 billion while United Bank for Africa (UBA) placed third with 23.9 million shares worth N117.8 million.

On the positive side, Total Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N9.99 to close at N283. Okomu Oil Palm followed with a gain of N2.20 to close at N46.38. UAC of Nigeria gathered 65 kobo to close at N13.65. Stanbic IBTC Holdings rose by 62 kobo to close at N17.98 while Newrest ASL added 13 kobo to close at N2.88 per share.

 

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