Bears Snatch N17bn from Stock Market Investors on Thursday

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained bearish on Thursday as bears maintained their grip on the market, leaving it 0.14 percent lower at the close of business.

The sustained selloffs at the market reduced the All-Share Index (ASI) by 35.42 points to 26,188.24 points and the market capitalisation by N17.3 billion to N12.748 trillion.

During the trading session, a total of 726.2 million shares worth N3.0 billion were traded in 3,040 deals, higher than the 232.2 million equities worth N3.1 billion transacted the previous day in 3,171 deals.

This indicated that the volume of trades rose by 212.72 percent, while the value of the transactions decreased by 4.91 percent and the number of deals executed reducing by 4.13 percent.

Jaiz Bank was the most traded stock at the market yesterday with a turnover of 502.0 million units sold for N271.1 million, while Access Bank followed with 84.3 million units worth N706.0 million.

Zenith Bank traded 52.9 million shares valued at N907.3 million, Lafarge Africa exchanged 20.2 million units for N282.4 million, while FBN Holdings traded 12.5 million equities worth N68.4 million.

The banking sector performed well on Thursday, but its efforts were not enough to lift the market despite rising by 0.66 percent. The insurance index slightly went down by 0.03 percent, while the consumer goods space declined by 1.10 percent, with both energy and industrial goods sectors closing flat.

Unilever Nigeria closed as the day’s highest price loser, going down by N2.40 to N21.65 per share, while Stanbic IBTC followed with a loss of 80 kobo to close at N37 per unit.

Cadbury Nigeria went down by 60 kobo to finish at N9 per share, Dangote Sugar declined by 40 kobo to end at N9.95 per unit, while Fidson depreciated by 35 kobo to trade at N3.25 per share.

On the flip side, GTBank rose by 75 kobo to close at N27 per unit, while the duo of UBA and Access Bank appreciated by 5 kobo each to finish at N6.35 and N8.40 respectively, with Jaiz Bank and Fidelity Bank adding 2 kobo each to their share prices to settle at 55 kobo and N1.78 respectively.

Business Post reports that at the close of transactions on Thursday, the market breadth closed bearish with 16 price losers and nine price gainers.