Investors Lose N13b as Stocks Shed 0.11%

By Dipo Olowookere

The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further depreciated by 33.37 basis points on Wednesday to close at 31,145.34 basis points.

This was as the market closed 0.11 percent lower amid profit taking by investors, sinking the year-to-date loss deeper to 0.91 percent.

At the close of transactions, the total value of shares on the local bourse, which is measured by market capitalisation, reduced by N13 billion to settle at N11.614 trillion.

Business Post reports that a stock in the consumer goods space, Nestle Nigeria, was mainly responsible for the loss recorded during the mid-week trading session as it dragged its sector down by 0.76 percent.

Apart from that, every other sector closed in the green territory, with the oil/gas emerging as the highest gainer after growing by 1.40 percent.

The banking index rose by 0.10 percent, insurance by 0.89 percent and the industrial sector appreciating by 0.23 percent.

Nestle Nigeria, which topped by price losers’ chart, depreciated by N10 to close at N1440 per unit, while Guinness Nigeria fell by N6 to finish at N65 per share.

Newrest ASL Nigeria depreciated by 70 kobo to end at N6.45k per share, Flour Mills declined by 40 kobo to settle at N19 per share, while FBN Holdings suffered 15 kobo loss to close at N7.40k per share.

At the other end, Seplat closed as the day’s biggest price gainer, appreciating by N15 to quote at N535 per share.

It was followed by Beta Glass, which rose by N4.35k to finish at N60 per share, and GTBank, which increased its share value by 20 kobo to settle at N34 per unit.

UAC of Nigeria went up by 10 kobo to close at N8.60k per share, while Custodian Investment also rose by 10 kobo to end at N6.60k per share.

A look at the activity chart yesterday showed that the volume of equities transacted at the local bourse went down by 30.59 percent to 249.5 million units from 359.5 million units, while the value increased by 63.25 percent to N3.1 billion from N1.9 billion.

A breakdown of the trades on Wednesday indicated that Zenith Bank was the most actively traded stock with a turnover of 56.4 million units sold for N1.3 billion.

Access Bank exchanged 36.2 million shares worth N218.1 million, while Sterling Bank traded 32.3 million shares valued at N75.6 million.

Diamond Bank sold 20.2 million shares for N46.5 million, while UBA transacted 16 million equities valued at N116 million.