NSE Index Drops 0.88% as Investors Lose N111b amid Selloffs

By Dipo Olowookere

Activities at the local stock market ended bearish on Thursday with profit-taking witnessed on counters in the banking, insurance and consumer goods spaces, which depreciated by 2.49 percent, 0.21 percent and 1.06 percent respectively.

This was despite the improvements witnessed in the industrial goods and oil and gas sectors of the market yesterday by 0.38 percent and 0.15 percent respectively.

At the close of transaction, the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) extended its fall by 0.88 percent with the Year-to-Date (YtD) returns dropping further to -10.81 percent.

The local bourse closed on Thursday with 31 price fallers and 19 price risers, reflecting that the market breadth ended negative again.

It was a bad day for Unilever Nigeria as its shares depreciated by N3.20k to settle for the day at N46.80k per share.

Following was Guinness Nigeria, which lost N2 of its share value to end at N88 per share, and Stanbic IBTC, which announced the payment of its N1.886 billion fine to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), also lost N2 to finish at N45 per share.

GTBank went down by N1.70k yesterday to close at N34.95k per share, while Mobil Nigeria declined by N1 to finish at N179 per share.

At the other end, Dangote Cement put up a better performance on Thursday and was rewarded with a gain of N1, closing at N224 per share.

Forte Oil put up a good fight and also had N1 added to its share price to finish at N21 per share, while Fidson was fortified with 50 kobo to close at N6 per share.

PZ Cussons rose by 35 kobo yesterday to settle at N13.50k per share, while Flour Mills expanded by 30 kobo to end at N21.50k per share.

Business Post reports that the volume and value of equities transacted by investors at the market yesterday depreciated by 17.86 percent and 4.18 percent.

A total of 164.5 million shares worth N2.1 billion exchanged hand on Thursday compared with the 200.3 million units valued at N2.2 billion transacted on Wednesday.

These trades were dominated by counters in the Financial Services sector, which accounted for 139.2 million units of stocks valued at N1.7 billion, and the Conglomerates industry, which accounted for 8.9 million shares worth N15 million.

A further analysis showed that GTBank emerged the most traded stock at the market yesterday, accounting for 23.9 million units worth N860.2 million.

UBA followed with 15.2 million units of the stock sold for N120.9 million, and Skye Bank, which traded 11.7 million shares valued at N6.2 million.

Jaiz Bank exchanged 11.1 million equities for N5.8 million, while FBN Holdings transacted 10.9 million shares worth N98.2 million.

A quick look at the major market indices revealed that while the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 304.15 points to close at 34,110.22 points, the market capitalisation decreased by N111 billion to settle at N12.453 trillion.