By Dipo Olowookere
The bears have continued to keep Nigerian stocks in captivity. On Wednesday, it was the fifth consecutive day the local bourse has been under their tight control.
Business Post observed that the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was initially looking to get its free from the grip, but the roars of the bears forced the market back by 0.09 percent, reducing the year-to-date gain to 2.54 percent.
This was majorly due to the losses printed by four of the five key sectors of the market as only the industrial goods counter closed in green by 0.46 percent.
The insurance sector lost 2.29 percent, energy index declined by 1.12 percent, the banking sector depreciated by 0.55 percent, while the consumer goods counter fell by 0.15 percent.
The poor outing of these sectors contributed to the 24.48 points lost by the All-Share Index (ASI), which finished at 27,523.08 points against its previous 27,547.56 points. Similarly, the market capitalisation reduced by N9 billion to N14.338 trillion from N14.347 trillion.
The low prices of equities at the stock exchange yesterday gave room to some investors to expand their portfolios, leading to improved level of activity.
The volume of stocks traded at the midweek session rose by 72.64 percent to 290.2 million units from 168.1 million units, while the value increased by 132.96 percent to N5.0 billion from N2.2 billion, with the number of deals growing by 14.73 percent to 3,528 from 3,075.
A further breakdown showed that GTBank was the most transacted stock at the market, selling 79.4 million units worth N2.3 billion, while Zenith Bank traded 40.0 million units valued at N780.9 million.
FBN Holdings exchanged 34.6 million shares for N199.5 million, Japaul Oil transacted 16.3 million stocks for N3.3 million, while UBA traded 15.7 million equities worth N120.5 million.
On the price movement chart, Forte Oil was the heaviest price decliner, reducing by N1.85 to N16.70 per unit, while Custodian Investment lost 60 kobo to sell at N5.45 per share.
GTBank went down by 45 kobo to trade at N28.40 per unit, NCR Nigeria declined by 28 kobo to N2.70 per unit, while Dangote Sugar depreciated by 25 kobo to quote at N12.10 per share.
On the price risers’ log, Lafarge Africa dominated after adding 60 kobo to its share value to close at N15.70 per share, while C&I Leasing gained 55 kobo to sell at N6.35 per unit.
Africa Prudential rose by 46 kobo to N5.12 per share, United Capital moved up by 29 kobo to N3.22 per share, while Caverton improved by 22 kobo to sell at N2.82 per unit.
The bulls may stage a surprise comeback today to take charge of the market, having had a short survey of the bourse during yesterday’s session.
