Dangote Cement Leads 18 Other Stocks to Weaken Nigerian Equity Market by N170b

By Dipo Olowookere

The Nigerian stock market kicked off the first trading day on a poor note, losing N170 billion at the close of transactions on Monday.

Business Post reports that profit-taking by investors today depleted the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) by 1.24 percent with the Year-to-Date (YtD) gain shrinking to 41.24 percent.

Specifically, the All-Share Index (ASI) depreciated by 478.12 points to settle at 37,957.96 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N170.2 billion to close at N13.508 trillion.

The market breadth today settled at equilibrium, as 19 stocks appreciated in price as well as 19 equities, which depreciated in value.

However, the volume of equities transacted increased by 76.86 percent from 425.3 million to 752 million, while the total value of shares traded rose by 1294.55 percent from N9.2 billion to N127.9 billion.

At the close of business on Monday, the Industrial Goods sector led the activity chart with 551.7 million shares exchanged for N124.2 billion, and was followed by the Financial Services industry, which sold 166 million shares valued at N3 billion.

The transactions recorded by the Industrial Goods sector was buoyed by the huge sales recorded by Dangote Cement, which traded 550 million shares worth N124.2 billion.

This transaction was done as an off-market trade at N225.68 in a single deal, which was negotiated between Meristem Stockbrokers Ltd (seller) and CSL Stockbrokers Ltd (buyer).

GTBank emerged the second most traded stock with 41.3 million shares sold for N1.7 billion, while Zenith Bank traded 35.3 million shares valued at N904.3 million.

FBN Holdings exchanged 21.7 million shares worth N192.3 million, and UBA transacted 21.5 million shares for N218 million.

A look at the price movement chart today showed Dangote Cement emerging the biggest price loser, depreciating by N10 to close at N230 per share.

It was trailed by International Breweries, which went down by N2.74k to finish at N52.10k per share, and NASCON, which depreciated by 96k to settle at N18.34k per share.

Cadbury Nigeria lost 87k to close at N13.90k per share, while Flour Mills of Nigeria declined by 83k to end at N30 per share.

On the other hand, Presco gained the highest amount, appreciating by N5.83k to close at N72 per share.

Lafarge increased by 49k to finish at N43.50k per share, and Dangote Flour rose by 38k to end at N12.18k per share.

Furthermore, Union Bank progressed by 37k to settle at N7.92k per share, while FBN Holdings went up by 26k to close at N9 per share.