Equities Lose N7.4bn Thursday as Selloffs Persist

By Dipo Olowookere

It was another bad day for stocks at the nation’s bourse on Thursday as the market further succumbed to the profit-taking that has characterised the space for some days now.

At the close of transactions yesterday, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) went down by 0.06 percent as a result of selloffs in the banking and insurance sectors.

Business Post reports that of the five key sectors tracked at the session, only the energy index closed flat. The insurance space went down by 1.17 percent, while the banking index fell by 0.24 percent, with the consumer goods industry closing 0.07 percent lower and the industrial goods space dropping 0.01 percent.

For the major gauges of the market, the All-Share Index (ASI) went down by 15.19 points to close at 26,583.75 points, while the market capitalisation depreciated by N7.4 billion to finish at N12.941 trillion.

The activity level was mixed yesterday with the volume of trades going down by 38.54 percent and the value of the transaction going up by 157.05 percent.

A total of 363.3 million shares worth N19.0 billion were traded in 2,650 deals on Thursday compared with the 591.0 million equities valued at N7.4 billion exchanged on Wednesday in 2,907 deals.

Dangote Cement emerged the most active equity after the company traded 114.7 million shares worth N16.6 billion, while Access Bank followed with 80.7 million units worth N592.7 million.

FCMB exchanged 51.6 million equities valued at N82.6 million, Zenith Bank transacted 17.5 million shares for N314.7 million, while African Alliance Insurance exchanged 16.7 million shares valued at N3.3 million.

On the losers’ chart, Custodian Investment dominated with a loss of 35 kobo to close at N5.65 per share, while Flour Mills depreciated by 25 kobo to end at N14.75 per unit.

Ecobank went down by 20 kobo to finish at N7.40 per share, UBA fell by 10 kobo to close at N5.90 per share, while Cutix declined by 5 kobo to settle at N1.50 per unit.

At the other side, United Capital emerged as the highest price gainer, rising by 15 kobo to close at N2.15 per share, while Learn Africa went up by 11 kobo to finish at N1.23 per unit.

The trio of Dangote Flour, FBN Holdings and GTBank all increased by 5 kobo each to settle at N22.20 per share, N5.30 per share and N26.75 per share respectively.