Equities Shed N370b as Market Mood Remains Bearish

February 14, 2018
local bourse bear market

By Dipo Olowookere

The equities market on Tuesday recorded its highest loss in a single day in 2018 after depreciating by 2.41 percent to leave the year-to-date return at 9.06 percent.

The huge loss suffered by the Nigerian Stock Exchange yesterday, its seventh in a row, was largely due to decline by market heavyweights in the industrial and consumer goods sectors.

The stock market, which maintained a bearish mood, recorded 40 price losers and 15 price gainers on Tuesday.

Nestle, which led the laggards’ chart, depreciated by N40 to close at N1320 per share, while Dangote Cement dropped N13.30k to finish at N258.70k per share.

Nigerian Breweries lost N5.20k to settle at N127.80k per share, Guinness Nigeria fell by N5 to end at N105 per share, while International Breweries declined by N2.50k to close at N57.50k per share.

On the flip side, Lafarge was the day’s highest price gainer, appreciating by N1 to settle at N51 per share.

It was followed by Zenith Bank, which rose by 60k to finish at N30 per share, and Berger Paints, which increased by 45k to close at N9.45k per share.

Access Bank also gained 45k to end at N12 per share, while Dangote Sugar increased by 30k to settle at N21 per share.

A look at the market indices showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 1,029.74 points to finish at 41,708.15 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N369.5 billion to close at N14.968 trillion.

Business Post reports that the volume and value of equities transacted by investors depreciated on Tuesday as a total of 470.5 million shares exchanged hands in 6,309 deals valued at N3.7 billion in contrast to the 517.4 million shares worth N5.2 billion traded on Monday in 5,852 deals.

Diamond Bank was the most traded stock yesterday at the market, trading a total of 67.7 million units worth N181 million.

It was followed by FCMB, which sold 49.2 million shares valued at N126.2 million, and Fidelity Bank, which transacted 42.8 million equities for N129.6 million.

UBA traded 39.2 million shares on Tuesday worth N437.6 million, while FBN Holdings sold 32.6 million equities for N358.6 million.

A pocket of bargain hunting is expected at the stock market today and the market may likely settle in the green zone as earlier predicted by Business Post.

Dipo Olowookere

Dipo Olowookere is a journalist based in Nigeria that has passion for reporting business news stories. At his leisure time, he watches football and supports 3SC of Ibadan.

Mr Olowookere can be reached via [email protected]

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