Nigerian Stocks Further Suffer Heavy Loss, Down 2.22%

By Dipo Olowookere

The downtrend recorded last Friday on the trading floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) continued on Monday as losses posted by MTN Nigeria and Dangote Cement Affected the overall performance of the market.

The signing of the 2019 budget by President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday failed to keep investors in high spirits as the local bourse finished 2.22 percent lower.

The All-Share Index (ASI) went down yesterday by 681.97 points to settle at 30,199.32 points, while the market capitalisation depreciated by N301 billion to finish at N13.301 trillion.

Topping the losers’ table on Monday was MTN Nigeria as the telco’s stocks went down by N10 to close at N130 per unit.

It was followed by Dangote Cement, which lost N8 to finish at N192 per share, and Forte Oil, which crashed by 35 kobo to end at N27.45k per share.

Africa Prudential went down by 10 kobo to settle at N3.60k per unit, while Union Bank depreciated by 10 kobo to close at N6.90k each.

At the other end, Unilever Nigeria topped the gainers’ log with a price appreciation of N2.70k to finish at N33.70k per unit.

It was trailed by Ecobank, which rose by 95 kobo to end at N11 per share, and Dangote Flour, which increased its share value by 50 kobo to finish at N16.60k per unit.

GTBank gained 20 kobo yesterday to close at N31.30k per unit, while Zenith Bank appreciated by 20 kobo to settle at N19.20k per unit.

Business Post reports that the level of activity was low in the first trading session of the week as the volume and value of shares transacted by investors went down by 46.60 percent and 66.54 percent respectively.

The volume of shares dropped to 148.2 million units from 294.1 million units, while the value decreased to N2.2 billion from N6.6 billion.

Fidelity Bank was investors’ darling yesterday, with a turnover of 28.3 million units worth N49.5 million.

Access Bank sold 20.3 million shares valued at N117.4 million, while UBA traded 20.1 million equities for N114.6 million.

MTN Nigeria transacted 10.2 million shares for N1.4 billion, while Zenith Bank exchanged 8.7 million equities worth N168.3 million.