N136b Loss on Tuesday Compounds Stock Market Woes

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Respite failed to come yesterday on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), giving investors some things to worry about.

The equities market further depreciated on Tuesday by 1.20 percent as bears continue to maintain tight grip on the nation’s bourse.

Business Post reports that the persistence profit taking activities by investors left the NSE’s year-to-date loss at 4.44 percent.

This occurred after the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 364.13 points to finish at 30,036.15 points and the market capitalisation going down by N136 billion to close at N11.201 trillion.

It was observed that the losses recorded at the local bourse yesterday were mainly influenced by the poor performances put up by 28 counters led by Forte Oil, which fell by N2.30k to settle at N26.55k per share.

Presco lost N2 to finish at N62 per share, while GTBank went down by N1.85k to close at N32 per share.

Flour Mills fell by N1.70k to settle at N18 per share, while Zenith Bank declined by N1 to end at N20.30k per share.

On the flip side, Okomu Oil led the 12 appreciating equities yesterday after it added N6.15k to its share value to end at N83.75k per unit.

Nigerian Breweries gained 40 kobo to end at N78.90k per share, while Lafarge Africa grew by 35 kobo to finish at N11.70k per share.

Julius Berger appreciated by 20 kobo to close at N23.50k per share, while Union Bank also advanced by 20 kobo to settle at N6 per share.

On the activity chart, the volume and value of shares traded yesterday fell by 2.85 percent and 20.13 percent respectively.

While the volume of transacted shares dropped to 216.3 million from 222.6 million, the value declined to N2.7 billion from N3.3 billion.