Dipo Olowookere
By Dipo Olowookere
The first loss at the nation’s stock market finally came on Tuesday as a result of massive profit taking in some large-cap equities on the exchange, including MTN Nigeria, Dangote Cement, Nigerian Breweries and others.
Business Post reports that the bears chased out the bulls from the local bourse yesterday, leaving the market heavily depressed by 1.18 percent to cut the year-to-date gain to 9.09 percent. The market breadth also closed negative with 23 price losers and 13 price gainers.
The All-Share Index (ASI) of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) reduced at the close of activities by 350.43 points to 29,283.15 points from 29,633.58 points, while the market capitalisation was trimmed by N181 billion from N15.287 trillion to N15.106 trillion, data from the exchange showed.
Nigerian Breweries was the heaviest price loser, reducing by N4.95 to N51.10 per share, while MTN Nigeria followed with a loss of N3.40 to close at N124.20 per unit.
Dangote Cement depreciated by N2 to finish at N170 per share, UBA declined by 45 kobo to settle at N8.25 per unit, while Zenith Bank dropped 40 kobo to end at N21.30 per share.
At the other side, Beta Glass emerged the best performing stock, gaining N5.20 to close at N59 per share, while Forte Oil trailed with a price appreciation of 95 kobo to finish at N17.85 per unit.
Flour Mills improved by 70 kobo to settle at N24 per share, C&I Leasing rose by 60 kobo to trade at N7.35 per unit, while Cadbury Nigeria appreciated by 50 kobo to sell at N10 per share.
Despite the market closing bearish yesterday, more shares were traded on the floor by investors, though the value dropped.
A total of 666.8 million stocks worth N6.5 billion exchanged hands during the day compared with the 348.2 million equities valued at N8.6 billion transacted on Monday. This indicated that the volume of trades went up by 91.47 percent, while the value went down by 23.77 percent.
Stocks of Union Diagnostic and Clinical Services were the most traded at the market on Tuesday, with a total units of 340.2 million worth N71.4 million.
Zenith Bank sold 69.7 million units valued at N1.5 billion, UBA exchanged 38.8 million shares worth N329.2 million, Access Bank traded 37.3 million units for N393.9 million, while FBH Holdings transacted 22.0 million shares valued at N157.6 million.
