NSE Index Sustains Downward Slide, Sheds 0.74%

By Dipo Olowookere

The loss recorded on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday was sustained at Tuesday’s trading session.

The equity market closed in the red zone after shedding 0.74 percent as the year-to-date loss dragged to 6.48 percent.

It was observed that the decline posted by the market yesterday was majorly because of Nestle Nigeria and 22 other stocks.

The leading food and beverage company, which topped the losers’ chart at the stock market on Tuesday, lost N45 to close at N1345 per share.

International Breweries fell by N1.25k to finish at N17.05k, while Dangote Cement went down by N1.10k to settle at N179.90k per unit.

Dangote Sugar depreciated by N65 kobo to finish at N10.70k per share, while GTBank declined by 60 kobo to end at N30 per share.

At yesterday’s session, a total of 13 equities registered their presence on the gainers’ table, with CCNN occupying the top spot after adding N1.05k to its share value to finish at N14 per share.

Nigerian Breweries claimed the second position with 50 kobo growth to close at N60.50k per share, while Ecobank came third with 30 kobo rise to settle at N10.30k per unit.

Lafarge Africa and Cadbury Nigeria each gained 20 kobo to close at N12.50k and N10.70k respectively.

A look at the main gauge of the market performance on Tuesday showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 219.47 points to finish at 29,395.14 points, while the market capitalisation went down by N93.8 billion to finish at N12.957 trillion against N13.050 trillion it closed on Monday.

Business Post reports that despite the poor performance of the market yesterday, the volume and value of shares traded by investors increased by 86.79 percent and 153.66 percent respectively.

At the close of transactions, investors exchanged a total of 200.7 million shares worth N2.9 billion in contrast to the 107.4 million equities worth N1.1 billion traded in the previous session.

Dominating the activity chart yesterday was GTBank, which sold a total of 24.4 million shares valued at N742.2 million.

UBA transacted 23.4 million units worth N144.9 million, while Lafarge Africa exchanged 22.7 million equities for N284.2 million.

In addition, Zenith Bank traded 22.3 million shares worth N436.9 million, while FBN Holdings exchanged 18.5 million shares valued at N120.3 million.