NSE Index Sheds 0.34% as Trading Activities Wane

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session of a new week at the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended bearish on Monday as a result of sustained profit-taking by investors.

The market depreciated by 0.35 per cent despite the gains posted by 23 equities but these stocks were unable to overpower the 16 shares that recorded a decline in value.

Business Post reports that GTBank was the heaviest price loser as it went down by N3.15 to settle at N32.85 per share and was trailed by PZ Cussons, which fell by 55 kobo to sell at N5.10 per unit.

Flour Mills depreciated by 45 kobo to quote at N31 per share, Unilever Nigeria dropped 30 kobo to trade at N14.30 per unit, while Champion Breweries lost 27 kobo to end at N2.50 per share.

Topping the gainers’ chart yesterday was Guinness Nigeria as it grew by 85 kobo to sell at N19.85 per unit, Africa Prudential gained 55 kobo to close at N7.25 per share, UPDC REIT rose by 50 kobo to finish at N6 per unit, Fidson grew by 46 kobo to end at N6 per share, while UBA gained 35 kobo to close at N8.80 per unit.

On a sectoral level, only the industrial goods sector closed positive with a marginal growth of 0.05 per cent. The banking index lost 2.68 per cent, the insurance space declined by 0.84 per cent, the consumer goods counter went down by 0.26 per cent, while the oil/gas index dropped 0.01 per cent.

The poor performance of these sectors had a devastating effect on the All-Share Index (ASI), while depleted by 144.78 points to 41,564.31 points from 41,709.09 points. It also affected the market capitalisation of the exchange, which decreased by N75 billion to N21.744 trillion from N21.819 trillion.

A look at the activity chart showed that the trading volume reduced by 29.43 per cent to 340.3 million units from 482.2 million units, the trading value went down by 52.68 per cent to N2.6 billion from N5.6 billion, while the number of deals declined by 12.45 per cent to 5,251 deals from 5,998 deals.

Union Bank was the most active stock on Monday with the sale of 78.8 million units worth N457.1 million and was trailed by FBN Holdings, which sold 54.3 million valued at N396.4 million.

Access Bank traded 34.0 million worth N289.6 million, Transcorp exchanged 16.7 million shares for N16.8 million, while Zenith Bank transacted 14.2 million equities valued at N368.6 million.