Selloffs in Oil Stocks Crash NSE Index by 0.39%

By Dipo Olowookere

Profit taking resumed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, leading to the 0.39 percent decline suffered by the market.

Business Post observed that heavy selloffs in the oil/gas sector led by Seplat contributed to the downfall of the local stock market yesterday.

The sector depreciated by 6.78 percent, while the industrial industry went down by 0.99 percent, with the consumer goods sector going down by 0.39 percent and the banking sector depreciating by 0.22 percent.

However, the insurance index closed in the green territory on Monday after appreciating by 0.66 percent at the close of transactions.

Business Post reports that the market was dull yesterday in the absence of any positive news to trigger any buying interest.

A look at the activity chart gave a true reflection of the mood at the market on Monday with the volume and value of transactions going down by 87.23 percent and 29.55 percent respectively.

A total of 158.3 million shares worth N2.3 billion were traded by investors yesterday compared with the 1.2 billion equities worth N3.3 billion exchanged at the market last Friday.

A further breakdown of the trades revealed that Transcorp was the most active stock at the market, closing with a turnover of 31.8 million units sold for N34 million.

Zenith Bank traded 18.7 million shares worth N348.4 million, UBA exchanged 17.9 million units worth N107.7 million, FBN Holdings traded 14.1 million equities valued at N70.8 million, while GTBank traded 13.5 million shares for N372.2 million.

On the price movement chart, the market breadth ended negative as a result of the 21 price losers and 19 price gainers printed by the NSE yesterday.

Seplat topped the decliners’ table after suffering a price depreciation of N49 to settle at N441 per unit, while Julius Berger followed with a decline of N2.05k to close at N18.55k per share.

Forte Oil went down by N1.60k to end at N14.40k per unit, International Breweries depreciated by N1 to settle at N10.50k per share, while CCNN lost 90 kobo to finish at N14 per unit.

Conversely, Nestle Nigeria closed at the market on Monday as the highest price gainer after adding N2 to its share price to settle at N1232 per unit.

Dangote Cement gained 50 kobo to finish at N167 per share, Flour Mills rose by 45 kobo to exchange at N14.30k per share, while NPF Microfinance Bank and Zenith Bank appreciated by 10 kobo each to finish at N1.26k and N18.70k respectively.

The All Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 108.32 points to finish at 27,691.85 points on Monday, while the market capitalization reduced by N53 billion to settle at N13.472 trillion.