Financial Stocks Dwindle Market Cap to N12.846trn

By Dipo Olowookere

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further depreciated on Thursday by N16 billion to N12.846 trillion from N12.862 trillion.

It was observed that the decision of investors to take profit especially in financial stocks deepened yesterday’s loss by 0.12 percent.

Consequently, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 29.82 points to settle at 24,625.17 points as against the previous 24,654.99 points.

According to data from the exchange, the activity chart was mixed with 1.46 percent rise in the number of deals and 31.16 percent and 15.24 percent decline in the volume and value of trades respectively.

A total of 130.3 million stocks worth N1.6 billion were traded in 3,413 deals on Thursday in contrast to the 189.3 million equities valued at N1.9 billion exchanged in 3,364 deals on Wednesday.

Zenith Bank was the most traded stock at the session, transacting 19.0 million units valued at N308.4 million, while Transcorp followed with 16.1 million shares sold for N11.3 million.

FBN Holdings transacted 9.9 equities valued at N52.5 million, Mutual Benefits Assurance sold 6.9 million stocks for N1.5 million, while Guinness Nigeria traded 6.4 million shares worth N96.7 million.

Business Post reports that despite the weak performance of the market generally on Thursday, the market breadth finished positive with nine price gainers and eight price losers.

The losers were mainly from the financial services sector of the market, with the insurance index depreciating by 0.34 percent and the banking counter losing 0.18 percent.

The consumer goods, industrial goods and oil/gas indices closing flat.

MTN Nigeria was the highest price loser yesterday with a price depreciation of 50 kobo to settle at N117.50 per unit.

Zenith Bank lost 25 kobo to settle at N16.15 per share, FBN Holdings went down by 5 kobo to sell at N5.25 per unit, Linkage Assurance shed 5 kobo to trade at 48 kobo per unit, while Livestock Feeds reduced by 2 kobo to quote at 68 kobo per share.

On the other hand, Neimeth appreciated by 11 kobo, emerging the highest price gainer, to finish at N1.25 per share.

Ecobank gained 10 kobo to end at N4.80 per unit, May and Baker rose by 9 kobo to sell at N3 per share, Wema Bank appreciated by 5 kobo to settle at 60 kobo per unit, while FCMB increased its value by 3 kobo to sell at N1.83 per share.