Dangote Cement, NB, Others Halt NSE 16-Day Bullish Run

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The upward momentum experienced on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) for over two weeks was abruptly brought to an end on Friday, July 28, 2017, Business Post reports.

This was influenced by profit taking embarked on by investors as soon as some blue-chip firms began to release their half year earnings today.

The Nigerian bourse, which stretched its winning streak to 16 consecutive trading sessions yesterday, closed 1.02 percent lower on Friday.

Dangote Cement was the heaviest loser today with a decline of N9.48k in its share value to settle at N235.51k per share.

It was closely followed by Nigerian Breweries, which shed N2.15k to close at N171.62k per share; and Forte Oil, which depreciated by N1.20k to end at N61.70k per share.

Guinness went down by 95k to close at N65.5k per share, while Cadbury blew away 75k to finish at N10.45k per share.

Nestle continued its impressive run today, emerging as the biggest gainer just like yesterday by adding N47.77k to its share price to close at N1003.27k per share.

Presco gained N2,20k to finish at N73.20k per share, while Dangote Sugar appreciated by 98k to end at N10.86k per share.

Lafarge rose by 75k to close at N60.75k per share, while International Breweries expanded by 50k to end at N32 per share.

A look at the market indicators showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) deflated by 380.46 points to settle at 36,864.71 points, leaving the 37,000 mark a day after it crossed it.

Furthermore, the market capitalisation reduced by N131 billion to close at N12.7 trillion, while the market breadth however ended positive with 30 advancers against 28 decliners.

But the year-to-date return weakened to 37.17 percent at the close of transactions of the floor of the NSE today.

FBN Holdings was the most active stock on Friday, accounting for 96.9 million units sold for N548.7 million.

It was trailed by Diamond Bank, which transacted 88 million shares at N117 million, and Transcorp, which traded 57.9 million shares valued at N83.7 million.

Zenith Bank exchanged 46.2 million shares worth N1.2 billion, while GTBank transacted 46 million shares at N1.9 billion.

At the close of transactions on Friday, investors traded a total of 525.6 million shares valued at N8.1 billion executed in 5,799 deals.