Market Loses N137bn as Investors Sell-Off Banking, Consumer Goods Stocks

By Dipo Olowookere

Profit-taking persisted on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Monday, leading to another loss by 0.75 per cent at the close of trading activities.

Investors mainly booked profit in stocks in the banking, consumer goods, energy and the insurance sectors, resulting in their respective indices to depreciate by 4.43 per cent, 3.75 per cent, 3.09 per cent and 0.03 per cent. Only the industrial goods sector appreciated yesterday and it went up by 2.09 per cent.

A total of 688.5 million shares worth 7.9 billion were traded in 10,319 deals yesterday compared with the 1.2 billion stocks worth N16.3 billion transacted in 13,433 deals at the preceding session, indicating 46.25 per cent in the trading volume, 51.81 per cent fall in the trading value and 23.18 per cent decrease in the number of deals.

Zenith Bank was the most active stock on Monday, trading 94.0 million units valued at N2.5 billion and was followed by Transcorp, which transacted 75.5 million units worth N83.0 million.

FBN Holdings exchanged 65.2 million equities for N499.3 million, UBA traded 60.1 million stocks worth N524.5 million, while Access Bank transacted 50.3 million shares valued at N449.5 million.

The market breadth closed negative yesterday with 11 price gainers and 43 price losers led by Nigerian Breweries, which lost N5.10 to trade at N58 per share.

Dangote Sugar depreciated by N2.20 to close at N20 per unit, Lafarge Africa lost N2.10 to quote at N22 per share, Flour Mills decreased by N1.90 to N28.05 per unit, while Zenith Bank declined by N1.15 to end at N26 per share.

After rising by N10.10, Airtel Africa took the top spot on the price gainers’ table, closing at N500 per share and was followed by BUA Cement, which rose by N4 to N56 per unit.

Ardova appreciated by N1.20 to sell at N16 per unit, BOC Gases gained 48 kobo to trade at N5.32 per share, while Neimeth appreciated by 24 kobo to trade at N2.91 per share.

At the close of transactions on the first trading session of the week, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased by 263.38 points to 34,774.08 points from 35,037.46 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N137 billion to N18.171 trillion from N18.308 trillion.