NSE LIVE! High-cap stocks drag equities to N17b loss

Losses recorded by high-cap stocks in the industrial goods, banking and breweries sectors on Thursday halted the modest rally at the Nigerian stock market.

Aggregate market value of all quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) declined from its opening value of N9.692 trillion to close at N9.675 trillion, representing a loss of N17 billion. The All Share Index (ASI), the common value-based index that tracks prices at the Exchange dropped from 28,214.57 points to close at 28,166.42 points, representing average decline of 0.17 per cent. With this, the negative average year-to-date return closed at -1.66 per cent.

With 22 losers to 18 gainers, the overall negative market position was due mainly to losses recorded by Dangote Cement, Guaranty Trust Bank and Guinness Nigeria Plc. Dangote Cement, the most capitalised quoted company at the stock market, recorded a loss of N3 to close at N180. Also, Guaranty Trust Bank, Nigeria’s most capitalised banking stock, followed Dangote Cement with a loss of 94 kobo to close at N25.83.

Guinness Nigeria followed with a loss of 23 kobo to close at N92.77. Nigerian Aviation Handling Company declined by 16 kobo to close at N3.32. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated dropped by 12 kobo to close at N11.38 per share while Caverton Offshore Support Group dropped by 11 kobo to close at N1.10 per share.

The losses also reflected on group indices at the Exchange. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 0.2 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index slipped by 0.9 per cent. However, the NSE Oil & Gas Index rallied 3.4 per cent gain. The NSE Consumer Goods Index followed with a gain of 0.6 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index inched up by 0.01 per cent.

Read also: How Lagos, Edo, Kaduna amassed highest foreign debt profiles

Downstream oil majors continued to lead the gainers. Total Nigeria led the 18-stock gainers’ list with a gain of N13.50 to close at N283.50. Mobil Oil Nigeria followed with a gain of N8.55 to close at N179.55. Forte Oil rose by N7.76 to close at N163.11. Nigerian Breweries gathered N1.46 to close at N143.50 while PZ Cussons Nigeria rose by 94 kobo to close at N19.90 per share.

“Whilst a tight monetary policy environment prevails, we perceive frail sentiment towards equities may persist as investors continue to take advantage of higher yields in the fixed income market,” analysts at Afrinvest Securities stated.

Analysts however expected the market to close this week on a positive note.

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