NSE: Bears Tighten Grip as Investor Appetite Weakens Further

By Dipo Olowookere

The bears failed to retract from the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday, recording another loss yesterday to drag the year-to0date returns to -8.28 percent.

It was observed that selloffs in the shares of some blue-chip companies dragged the stock market down by 0.60 percent on Wednesday as investor appetite continue to weaken.

At the close of market yesterday, only 12 counters recorded price appreciation compared with the 29 depreciating stocks.

Nestle Nigeria was the biggest price loser on Wednesday as the company’s shares went down by N60 to settle at N1500 per share.

Berger Paints, which followed, lost 70 kobo to close at N6.50k per share, while Zenith Bank declined by 50 kobo to finish at N23 per share.

Newrest ASL Nigeria depreciated by 45 kobo to close at N4.50k per share, while Oando also fell by 45 kobo to end at N4.55k per share.

On the flip side, Total Nigeria, which emerged as the highest price gainer yesterday, gained N5 to close at N190 per share.

FBN Holdings added 30 kobo to its share value to finish at N9.85k per share, while Forte Oil grew by 15 kobo to end at N23.15k per share.

May and Baker increased by 7 kobo to close at N2.35k per share, while Linkage Assurance went up by 6 kobo to settle at 68 kobo per share.

Business Post reports that the volume of transactions increased on Wednesday by 27.37 percent to 209.5 million from 164.5 million, while the value of trades rose by 80.07 percent to N2.9 billion from N1.6 billion on Tuesday.

Banking stocks contributed largely to the rise in the volume and value of transactions recorded ay the market yesterday. The sector traded a total of 105 million units of stocks on Wednesday valued at N1.7 billion.

A further analysis showed that United Bank for Africa attracted a huge attention of investors at the market yesterday, accounting for 28.3 million units sold for N255 million.

It was followed by Zenith Bank, which traded 22.4 million shares worth N518.4 million, and FCMB, which transacted 21 million equities valued at N38.7 million.

GTBank exchanged 20.7 million shares for N785.5 million, while Transcorp transacted 14.7 million equities worth N16.3 million.

A cursory look at the main market indices on Wednesday showed that the All-Share Index (ASI) lost 213.41 points to settle at 35,074.82 points, while the market capitalisation decreased by N77.91 billion to finish at N12.806 trillion.