NSE LIVE! Profit-taking throws equities into negative

Resurgent profit-taking trading halted the budding upbeat that opened this week and threw Nigerian equities deep into the red. The two benchmark indices at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) slipped below their psychological base as most traded equities closed with lower prices.
Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped below the N10 trillion mark to close yesterday at N9.963 trillion as against its opening value of N10.027 trillion, representing a loss of N64 billion.
The All Share Index (ASI), the benchmark index that tracks prices of all quoted equities, also slipped from 29,168.04 points to close at 28,981.12 points, representing a corresponding decline of 0.64 per cent. The decline further worsened the average year-to-date return to -16.38 per cent.
With 25 losers to 18 gainers, the downtrend was orchestrated by widespread losses as well as losses recorded by some highly capitalised stocks. Forte Oil led the losers with a loss of N8 to close at N282. Nigerian Breweries followed with a loss of N5.49 to close at N129.51. Guinness Nigeria dropped by N5.25 to close at N138. Seplat Petroleum Development Company declined by N5.04 to close at N225. Flour Mills of Nigeria dropped by 90 kobo to close at N20.90. Stanbic IBTC Holdings lost 71 kobo to close at N16.99. Seven-Up Bottling Company dropped by 56 kobo to close at N184.50. PZ Cussons Nigeria declined by 50 kobo to N25 while Nigerian Aviation Handling Company lost 21 kobo to close at N4.17 per share.
Total turnover also dropped considerably as investors staked N1.81 billion on 317.41 million shares in 3,733 deals. Equity Assurance was the most active with a turnover of 70 million shares worth N35 million. United Bank for Africa followed with a turnover of 59.31 million shares worth N216 million.

Read also: NSE LIVE! GTBank in unusual N8b trade as high-cap stocks cloud equities

Analysts at Afrinvest Securities said the extended sell down pressure that has continued in the bourse is majorly a reaction to the weakening macroeconomic fundamentals which has constrained earnings and profitability performance of listed companies.
“As we expect the Presidency to inaugurate the executive cabinet tomorrow (Wednesday), an immediate roll-out of economic programmes could boost investors’ sentiment although we do not expect the impacts to materialise in the short term. Hence, we continue to advice caution on the part of retail investors seeking short term gains even as we continue to see value in the market with attractive medium to long term upsides,” Afrinvest Securities stated.
On the upside, Nestle Nigeria led the contrarian stocks with a gain of N8.99 to close at N822.99. Unilever Nigeria followed with a gain of N3.38 to close at N36.38 while CAP and Dangote Cement added N1 each to close at N39 and N163 respectively.

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