Benchmark Index Drops 0.40% as Large Cap Stocks Disappoint

By Dipo Olowookere

Trading activities at the local bourse on Thursday ended on a bearish note again as it had been since the beginning of this week.

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) closed for the day shedding 0.40 percent with the Year-to-Date (YtD) shrinking to 6.99 percent.

Profit taking activities on large cap counters in the banking, industrial, Oil & gas and consumer goods were observed at the stock market.

Even the release of the 2017 financial statements of Union Bank of Nigeria Plc today did not have much impact on the market.

At the close of business transactions on Thursday, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 165.18 points to close at 40,914.94 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N59.8 billion to settle at N14.821 trillion.

Also, the volume and value of equities transacted at the market today decreased by 28.19 percent and 56.06 percent respectively.

A total of 244.9 million shares worth N4.1 billion were traded today in 3,804 deals compared with the 341.1 million equities sold yesterday in 3,790 deals valued at N9.3 billion.

Zenith Bank recorded heavy transaction at the market on Thursday, exchanging a total of 79.4 million units worth N2.2 billion.

Access Bank followed with 19.9 million units sold for N224.9 million, and UBA, which traded 19 million equities valued at N223.2 million.

Fidelity Bank transacted 13.4 million shares valued at N33.6 million, while CAP exchanged 9.2 million shares valued at N356.4 million.

Business Post reports that the market breadth closed negative again today with 24 price risers and 27 price fallers.

Seplat topped the laggards’ table after losing N25 of its share value to settle for the day at N725 per share.

It was followed by Dangote Cement, which went down by N3 to close at N245 per share, and Forte Oil, which crashed by 85k to end at N40 per share.

NASCON declined by 60k to finish at N20.40k per share, while GTBank lost 50k to close at N44.50k per share.

Conversely, Okomu Oil emerged the biggest price gainer after adding N4.05k to its share price to close at N85.05k per share.

CCNN went up by N2.45k to finish at N27.05k per share, while CAP advanced by N1.80k to end at N38.90k per share.

MRS Oil Nigeria increased by N1.40k to settle at N29.75k per share, while Zenith Bank increased by 45k to close at N27.95k per share.