Airtel Africa Stains Nigerian Stocks as Index Sheds 0.74%

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was looking like it would close stronger on Monday until Airtel Africa and 12 others put a red stain on the market, resulting in the 0.74 percent loss posted at the close of business.

This cut down the All-Share Index (ASI) by 204.68 points to leave it at 27,574.32 points yesterday, while the market capitalization was reduced by N99.6 billion to N13.423 trillion.

Business Post reports that the market breadth closed positive by 1.92x with 25 price gainers led by Okomu Oil as against the 13 price losers led by Airtel Africa, which recorded N35 price depreciation to finish at N315 per share.

CAP reduced its share price by N1.50k to close at N23.25 per unit, CCNN declined by 75 kobo to end at N16.15k per share, Dangote Cement depreciated by 40 kobo to settle at N155 per share, while Unilever Nigeria shed 30 kobo to trade at N29 per unit.

Conversely, Okomu Oil, which topped the gainers’ table, appreciated by N4.50k to finish at N52.90k per share, while GTBank, which followed, gained 95 kobo to settle at N28.50k per unit.

Cadbury Nigeria improved by 90 kobo to close at N11.65k per share, Nigerian Breweries rose by 45 kobo to end at N51.50k per unit, while NASCON gained 30 kobo to settle at N13 per share.

The level of activity improved yesterday with the volume of shares rising by 64.05 percent to 271.2 million units from 165.3 million, while the value of the trades rose by 10.87 percent to N2.9 billion from N2.6 billion. In the same vein, the number of deals executed by investors appreciated by 46.64 percent to 4,795 from 3,270.

Banking stocks were investors delight during the trading session, with FBN Holdings emerging as the most active stock after selling 56.6 million units worth N309.3 million.

GTBank traded 25.9 million shares valued at N731.5 million, Access Bank sold 15.9 million equities for N118.6 million, Zenith Bank transacted 15.8 million units worth N306.4 million, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 14.8 million shares for N26.3 million.

A look at the sectoral performance showed that only the industrial goods sector was printed in red with a loss of 1.14 percent, while the energy sector finished flat.

The banking index closed 1.57 percent higher, the insurance industry gained 1.21 percent, while the consumer goods sector appreciated by 0.22 percent at the close of transactions.