Nigerian Stock Exchange Falls to 26-month Low

By Dipo Olowookere

Transactions on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) further finished bearish on Thursday as the confidence of investors continue to wane due to lack of policy direction from the government.

The All-Share Index (ASI) fell into a level last seen 26 months ago, precisely on May 17, 2017. At the close of business yesterday, the ASI depreciated by 178.31 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 27,864.49 points against 28,042.80 points of the previous session.

Similarly, the market capitalisation reduced by N87 billion to close at N13.590 trillion against the previous N13.667 trillion.

The volume of trades recorded on Thursday depreciated by 28.05 percent to 175.4 million units from 243.7 million units, while the value went down by 30.18 percent to N2.7 billion from N3.9 billion.

FBN Holdings topped the activity chart with a turnover of 33.3 million shares worth N189.9 million exchanging hands among investors.

Zenith Bank traded 21.3 million shares valued at N395.1 million, while Sterling Bank transacted 16.8 million equities valued at N35.6 million.

A total of 16.3 million shares of UBA valued at N90.4 million were sold at the market yesterday, while Access Bank transacted 9.4 million equities for N56.8 million.

On the price movement log, Seplat dominated the losers’ table with a N50 price depreciation to finish at N480 per share and was trailed by International Breweries, which lost N1.70k to settle at N15.30k per share.

MTN Nigeria and Nigerian Breweries declined by N1 each yesterday to close at N127 and N58 respectively, while Ecobank decreased by 90 kobo to end at N9.05k per unit.