Equities Trading Resumes With N33b Loss

By Dipo Olowookere

Activities resumed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday and when the market closed for the day, it was pointing south by 0.31 percent.

This came as investors continue to react to the revocation of the operating license of Skye Bank Plc, one of the banks trading its shares on the stock exchange.

Yesterday, the stock market regulator suspended trading on the shares of the lender because of the action taken by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

However, this did not stocks the banking sector from closing bullish as the index appreciated by 0.03 percent yesterday.

The market was mainly dragged down by Oil and Gas, Industrial and Consumer Goods sectors, going down by 0.76 percent, 0.74 percent and 0.57 percent respectively.

With the renewed profit taking on Monday, the market breadth ended negative with 23 price losers against 13 price gainers.

Okomu Oil emerged the highest price loser yesterday with N6.90k of its share value lost to close at N70.10k per share.

It was followed by Nigerian Breweries, which went down by N3 to end at N90 per share, and Forte Oil, which declined by N1.45k to finish at N20.05k per share.

CAP dropped N1.15k to settle at N27.20k per share, while Union Bank depreciated by 55 kobo to close at N5.25k per share.

On the flip side, Unilever Nigeria recorded the highest price gain after going up by N2 to settle at N45 per share.

GTBank rose by 55 kobo to close at N35.25k per share, while Zenith Bank gained 20 kobo to finish at N21 per share.

PZ Cussons appreciated by 15 kobo on Monday to end at N13.50k per share, while UBA increased its share value by 10 kobo to settle at N8.10k per share.

Business Post reports that the volume and value of shares transacted by investors yesterday 63.59 percent and 68.75 percent respectively.

A total of 190.7 million shares worth N3.3 billion exchanged hands yesterday in 2,942 deals compared with the 523.4 million equities valued at N10.6 billion traded in 2,778 deals.

GTBank emerged on Monday as the most traded stock with 67 million units of the shares sold for N2.4 billion.

It was followed by Transcorp, which traded 15.8 million valued at N19.2 million, and UBA, which exchanged 10.6 million equities worth N86.1 million.

Fidelity Bank transacted 9.7 million shares worth N15.9 million, while Diamond Bank sold 7.1 million equities worth N8.4 million.

The All-Share Index (ASI) decreased on Monday by 100 points to settle at 32,440.17 points, while the market capitalisation depreciated by N33 billion to close at N11.847 trillion.