NSE LIVE! Investors lose N51b as equities relapse

Nigerian equities suffered a reversal on Wednesday as investors turned round to take profit after three consecutive positive trading sessions. While widespread bargain-hunting still left more stocks on the gainers’ list, losses suffered by the highly capitalised stocks coloured the overall market position.

The All Share Index (ASI)-a value-based common index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, declined from its opening index of 25,865.50 points to close at 25,715.42 points, representing a day-on-day decline of 0.58 per cent.

Aggregate market capitalization of all quoted equities dropped from N8.897 trillion to close at N8.846 trillion, indicating a loss of N51 billion. Expectedly, the losses by the highly capitalised stocks also weighed on the sectoral indices. The NSE Banking Index dropped by 1.0 per cent. The NSE Oil & Gas Index also declined by 0.6 per cent while the NSE Industrial Goods Index and NSE Insurance Index slipped by 0.1 per cent each. However, the NSE Consumer Goods Index rose by 0.2 per cent.

There were 26 gainers to 19 losers. Forte Oil continued its losing streak with a loss of N3.46 to close at N190. Dangote Cement, NSE’s most capitalised company, followed with a loss of N2.57 to close at N169. PZ Cussons Nigeria dropped by N1.12 to close at N21.30. Ecobank Transnational Incorporated lost 80 to close at N14.70 while Flour Mills of Nigeria declined by 70 kobo to close at N20.30 per share.

Analysts at FSDH Securities and Afrinvest Securities attributed the negative overall market position was due to profit-taking on the leading  stocks. The major losers included Ecobank Transnational Incorporated, which dropped by 5.2 per cent; Forte Oil, which dropped by 1.8 per cent; Dangote Cement, which lost 1.5 per cent; PZ Cussons Nigeria, which declined by 5.0 per cent and Fidson Healthcare, which lost 4.9 per cent..

Read also: NSE LIVE! Equities rally N276b gain amidst growing confidence

Total turnover was above recent average with the exchange of 330.56 million shares valued at N2.26 billion in 4,053 deals. Banking stocks continued to dominate activities chart. The three most active stocks were FBN Holdings, with 117 million shares; United Bank for Africa, 33.19 million shares and Fidelity Bank, with 32.83 billion shares.

“Today’s performance was broadly driven by profit taking which may be sustained tomorrow in the absence of any market moving news flow, however we expect a positive close for the week,” Afrinvest Securities stated.

On the upside, Nestle Nigeria continued to ride high on its impressive first quarter results with a gain of N1.68 to close at N680. Lafarge Africa followed with a gain of N1.62 to close at N73. Unilever Nigeria rose by N1.53 to close at N32.24. Tiger Branded Consumer Goods added 33 kobo to close at N3.63 while Nigerian Breweries gathered 32 kobo to close at N122 per share.

 

 

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