NSE LIVE! High-cap stocks halt equities’ recovery

Losses by many highly capitalised stocks on Thursday overshadowed the overall market situation and reversed the modest gain that halted the eight-day downtrend on Wednesday.

While there were still more gainers than losers, selloffs within a group of highly capitalised stocks shaved off N9 billion from the market capitalisation.

The All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark index for the stock market, indicated average decline of 0.10 per cent on Thursday as against a modest gain of 0.22 per cent on Wednesday.

The ASI dropped from its opening index of 25,517.00 points to close at 25,490.70 points. The average year-to-date return stood at -11 per cent.

Aggregate market value of all quoted companies on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) from its opening value of N8.784 trillion to close at N8.775 trillion. Sectoral indices showed a mixed performance. The NSE Oil & Gas Index dropped by 1.4 per cent.

The NSE Consumer Goods Index declined by 0.13 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index closed flat. On the positive side, the NSE Banking Index appreciated by 0.15 per cent while the NSE Insurance Index inched up by 0.02 per cent.

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities recover amidst renewed bargain-hunting

The decline was mainly driven by losses recorded by highly capitalised stocks in the petroleum-marketing, breweries and banking sectors. Total Nigeria remained atop the losers’ list with a loss of N22 to close at N223. Okomu Oil Palm followed with a drop of N1.92 to close at N40.08. Forte Oil dropped by N1 to close at N69. International Breweries lost 80 kobo to close at N18.70. Nigerian Breweries declined by 32 kobo to close at N141.

Stanbic IBTC Holdings dropped by 30 kobo to close at N15.20. Airline Services and Logistics dropped by 28 kobo to close at N2.67. Zenith Bank declined by 16 kobo to close at N14 while Vitafoam Nigeria slipped by 10 kobo to N2.29 per share.

There were however 16 gainers against 13 losers. Mobil Oil Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N3.99 to close at N199.02. Flour Mills of Nigeria followed with a gain of 75 kobo to close at N19.49. Guaranty Trust Bank added 21 kobo to close at N21.52. Africa Prudential Registrars rose by 13 kobo to close at N2.79 while Nigeria Aviation Handling Company and FBN Holdings chalked up 5.0 kobo each to close at N2.45 and N3.05 respectively.

Total turnover also slipped below average with the exchange of 97.13 million shares valued at N1.14 billion in 1,929 deals. International Breweries was the most active stock with a turnover of 22 million shares valued at N411.57 million. Access Bank placed second with 20.03 million shares worth N112.37 million while Guaranty Trust Bank ranked third with 11.4 million shares worth N245.25 million.

“Given the current weak macro-economic backdrop and with little to stoke investors’ appetite, we expect market performance to close southwards for the week,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

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