NSE: Equities Market Succumbs to Profit Taking, Falls 0.16%

By Modupe Gbadeyanka

The Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) on Friday returned to the negative territory after staying up on Thursday, closing yesterday 0.16 percent lower.

Despite the positive results released by companies listed on the stock exchange, investors still remained cautious as reflected in the market activity yesterday.

The volume of shares transacted by investors still remained low, depreciating by 24.37 percent, though the value of equities exchanged appreciated by 9.31 percent.

At the close of business on Friday, a total of 106.6 million shares were transacted in 3,193 deals worth N1.9 billion compared with 140.9 million units traded on Thursday in 4,159 deals valued at N1.7 billion.

Business Post reports that while the All-Share Index (ASI) went down at the close of transactions yesterday by 58.34 points to finish at 36,587.31 points, the market capitalisation fell by N20 billion to settle at N12.6 trillion.

The market breadth closed negative on Friday with only nine stocks gaining against 21 equities that took various trips to the south.

The leader of these losing stocks was Nigerian Breweries, which depreciated by N1.98k to finish at N160.1k per share.

It was deputised by Forte Oil, which went down N1.35k to close at N44.65k per share, and UAC Nigeria, which fell by 84k to end at N16.11k per share.

Ecobank lost 40k to close at N17.10k per share, while Dangote Sugar declined by 39k to settle at N14.2k per share.

At the other end, International Breweries topped the gainers’ chart with an addition of N4.49k to its share value to close at N51.1k per share.

CCNN gained 49k to finish at N10.17k per share, while Cutix rose by 23k to wrap the day at N2.60k per share.

Furthermore, UBA appreciated by 15k to settle at N9 per share, and Transcorp went up by 7k to close at N1.47k per share.

Friday’s trade was still dominated by financial stocks as Zenith Bank emerged the most active with 24 million shares were transacted for N628.6 million.

It was followed by Transcorp, which sold 9.4 million shares for N13.6 million, and FBN Holdings, which traded 8.2 million shares at N49.3 million.

Skye Bank transacted 7.4 million shares worth N3.8 million, while UBA exchanged 6.7 million shares valued at N60 million.