Nigerian Stocks Lose N310b as Profit Taking Kicks in

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

Nigerian stocks suffered a glitch on Wednesday mainly influenced by the desire of investors to quickly take profit due to the recent new 52 week high of stocks quoted on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE).

And at the close of trading activities on the floor of the NSE today, the stock market went down by 2.61 percent, breaking the five-day gaining streak.

Market breadth ended negative with a total of 37 equities depreciating in share price, while only 12 stocks appreciated.

Business Post reports that Nestle led the losers’ chart after losing N10 per share to close at N900 per share, while Dangote Cement shed N8.97k to finish at N205 per share.

Also, 7up declined by N2.99k to end at N90.1k per share, Lafarge slumped by N2.20k to close at N52 per share and Nigerian Breweries crashed by N2 to finish at N166 per share.

On the flip side, ConOil gained N1.92k to settle at N40.42k per share, while CAP Plc rose by 79k to end at N34.99k per share.

CCNN added 53k to finish at N11.27k per share, UACN progressed by 35k to end at N17.90k per share and NASCON appreciated by 20k to close at N10 per share.

A look at the market indicators showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) crashed by 897.71 points to end at 33,477.89 points, while the market capitalisation finished at N11.58 trillion after losing N310 billion.

Also, the YTD gain trimmed to 24.57 percent from 27.9 percent the previous day.

Like in the previous trading sessions, banking stocks were investors’ toast as Zenith Bank, Fidelity Bank, GTBank, Diamond Bank and UBA topped the most five active equities.

Zenith Bank traded 88 million shares for N1.9 billion, while Fidelity Bank exchanged 55.4 million units at N71.5 million.

GTBank transacted 50.3 million shares at N1.8 billion, Diamond Bank sold 45.6 million units worth N55.7 million and UBA traded 40.5 million valued at N336.9 million.

However, despite the loss at the market on Wednesday, the activity level closed higher with investors exchanging a total of 509 shares worth N6.4 billion in 5,876 deals compared with 392.3 million units traded yesterday in 5,412 deals valued at N4.2 billion.