MTN Nigeria Tops Losers’ Chart as Index Sheds 0.43%

By Dipo Olowookere

Leading telecommunications company in the country, MTN Nigeria Communications Plc, emerged as the heaviest price loser on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday after suffering a price depreciation of N2.05k to settle at N127 per share.

This was as the local bourse lost 0.43 percent at the close of business yesterday to widen the year-to-date loss to 12.01 percent, leaving the All-Share Index (ASI) going down by 118 points to close at 27,630.46 points, and the market capitalisation N57.5 billion lower to settle at N13.465 trillion.

Other price decliners at the market yesterday were Conoil, which went down by N1.10k to finish at N18.60k per share, Dangote Flour depreciated by 90 kobo to end at N18.50k per unit, Access Bank declined by 20 kobo to settle at N6.20k per share, while Continental Reinsurance depleted by 19 kobo to finish at N1.72k per unit.

Forte Oil, at the other end, topped the gainers’ table after adding N1.40k to its share price to finish for the day at N19.45k per share. It was followed by Berger Paints, which gained 60 kobo to close at N6.85k per unit, and C&I Leasing, which appreciated by 55 kobo to end at N6.05k per share.

GlaxoSmithKline increased its share value yesterday by 30 kobo to settle at N8.30k per unit, while Africa Prudential improved by 27 kobo to close at N3.87k per share.

Despite the decline recorded generally by the local bourse on Friday, the level of activity improved as the volume and value of shares transacted by investors increased by 66.04 percent and 171.55 percent respectively.

A total of 161.7 million equities worth N4.8 billion were executed in 3,088 deals yesterday compared with the 97.4 million shares worth N1.8 billion transacted the previous session in 2,936 deals.

A further breakdown of the transactions showed that MTN Nigeria was the most traded stock on Friday, closing with a turnover of 25.4 million units valued at N3.2 billion.

Zenith Bank followed with 17 million units of its stocks sold for N310.3 million, while Access Bank exchanged 15.9 million equities for N98.5 million.

FCMB traded 13.3 million shares worth N22.4 million, while GTBank exchanged 11.9 million equities valued at N333.7 million.