NSE: Banking Stocks Halt 8-Day Losing Spree to Calm Nerves

By Dipo Olowookere

Tensions were calmed on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) when the market recorded its first appreciation in nine trading sessions on Thursday.

The market moved up by 0.17 percent as a result of the invitation of the bulls to the local bourse courtesy stocks in the banking sector, which grew by 3.32 percent. It was not the only sector that recorded growth yesterday, but it was the main driver of return of confidence to the market.

The insurance sector rose by 0.11 percent, while the oil and gas sector improved by 0.07 percent, with industrial goods and consumer goods sectors depreciating by 1.87 percent and 0.12 percent respectively.

The market breadth closed positive on Thursday with 20 price gainers and 15 price losers.

GTBank posted the biggest price appreciation, gaining 90 kobo to close at N30 per share, while Zenith Bank garnered 80 kobo to finish at N20 per unit.

Access Bank rose by 40 kobo to settle at N9.75 per share, UAC Nigeria chalked up 35 kobo to sell at N8.40 per share, while Ecobank appreciated by 30 kobo to trade at N7.40 per unit.

On the opposite side, MTN Nigeria suffered the heaviest loss, going down by N1.40 to close at N118.20 per share, while BUA Cement followed after a loss of N1.20 to trade at N35 per unit.

C&I Leasing depreciated by 65 kobo to finish at N6 per unit, NASCON dropped 50 kobo to quote at N13 per share, while SAHCO went down by 41 kobo to close at N3.74 per unit.

Despite the growth printed by the NSE yesterday, the activity level decline as the volume of shares went down by 9.43 percent, while the value dropped 19.93 percent, with the number of deals going down by 8.23 percent.

A total of 317.2 million stocks worth N3.4 billion were traded on Thursday in 4,340 deals compared with the 350.2 million units worth N4.3 billion traded in 4,729 deals on Wednesday.

FBN Holdings was the most active stock, trading 57.3 million units valued at N345.6 million, while FCMB exchanged 43.2 million equities worth N84.2 million.

Zenith Bank sold 34.3 million shares for N705.5 million, UBA exchanged 24.1 million equities for N193.0 million, while Nigerian Breweries transacted 22.7 million stocks for N1.2 billion.

A look at the major market indicators showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) increased by 46.65 points to 28,140.41 points, while the market capitalisation improved by N26 billion to N14.497 trillion.