Trading Day After Independence Day Holiday Closes Red

By Dipo Olowookere

Activities fully resumed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Tuesday after the public holiday observed on Monday to commemorate the nation’s independence day celebration.

At the close of transactions yesterday, the local bourse was pointing south after shedding 0.17 percent as a result of profit-taking by investors.

There were 17 price losers at the market on Tuesday, while only 15 equities appreciated in value when activities were brought to an end.

Stanbic IBTC recorded the heaviest price loss, shedding N3.50k of its share value to settle at N42.50k per share.

It was followed by CCNN, which went down by N2.10k to close at N23.20k per share, and Guinness Nigeria, which crashed by N1.95k to finish at N78.05k per share.

Nestle Nigeria depreciated by N1 to end at N1399 per share, while Dangote Sugar lost 30 kobo to settle at N13.90k per share.

At the other side, it was good trading day for Forte Oil as its stock went up by N1.35k to finish at N21.40k per share.

This was followed by Unilever Nigeria, which gained N1 to close at N46 per share, and Lafarge, which grew by 80 kobo to settle at N23 per share.

GlaxoSmithKline rose by 50 kobo to end at N14.50k per share, while FBN Holdings increased by 30 kobo to quote at N9.20k per share.

Despite the profit taking yesterday, some investors used the opportunity of the low prices of some stocks to add more to their portfolios.

This was reflected in the volume and value of trades recorded at the market on Tuesday, which went up by 0.03 percent and 19.89 percent respectively.

A total of 184.7 million shares worth N3.4 billion were sold in 2,889 deals yesterday compared with the 184.5 million equities transacted the previous day in 2,269 deals valued at N2.8 billion.

These were buoyed mainly by the huge appetite for financial stocks, leaving FCMB emerging at the most traded stock with 33.1 million units of its shares sold for N58.6 million.

GTBank traded 29.9 million equities worth N1.1 billion, while Zenith Bank exchanged 15.6 million shares valued at N334.5 million.

Fidelity Bank traded 14.5 million equities for N25.9 million, while UBA transacted 13.9 million shares worth N115.3 million.

A look at the major market indices indicated that while the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 54.72 points to settle at 32,711.65points, the market capitalisation decreased by N20 billion to finish at N11.942 trillion.