NSE Market Indices Bearish, Down 0.09%

By Dipo Olowookere

The major indices of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) remained bearish on Tuesday, going down by 0.09 percent of the close of transactions to stretch the year-to-date loss to 16.99 percent.

The All-Share Index (ASI) reduced during the session by 24.92 percent to 26,090.88 points from 26,115.80 points, while the market capitalisation went down by N11 billion to N12.596 trillion N12.607 trillion.

However, the volume of shares exchanged by investors increased by 71.83 percent to 324.4 million from 188.8 million, while the value of the transactions reduced by 31.66 percent N1.7 billion from N2.4 billion.

It was observed that there were heavy transactions in financial stocks during the day, accounting for 288.3 million units worth N1.4 billion.

Business Post observed that a bulk of these were from equities in the insurance sector with 149.6 million N75.0 million executed in 71 deals, while banking stocks followed with 101.4 million units worth N1.2 billion traded in 945 deals, with stocks in the other financial institutions segment transacting 37.2 million units worth N182.8 million exchanged in 334 deals.

A further breakdown indicated that Law Union and Rock Insurance was the most traded equity by volume, transacting a total of 146.3 million units valued at N73.1 million.

Access Bank traded 40.6 million shares for N402.3 million, Zenith Bank exchanged 32.2 million equities worth N586.4 million, Transcorp sold 27.0 million shares valued at N24.5 million, while FBN Holdings traded 21.2 million equities for N127.1 million.

An analysis of the sectoral performance showed that the banking index slightly rose by 0.04 percent, while the consumer goods index appreciated by 0.13 percent, with the oil/gas index rising by 0.31 percent. However, the insurance index depreciated by 0.71 percent, while the industrial goods index closed flat.

Stanbic IBTC was the highest price loser on Tuesday, depreciating by N1.10 to settle at N36.40 per share, and was followed by Dangote Sugar, which fell by 80 kobo to close at N13.65 per unit.

GTBank depreciated by 35 kobo to finish at N29 per share, UAC Nigeria fell by 20 kobo to end at N8.10 per unit, while Zenith Bank decreased by 15 kobo to trade at N18.15 per share.

On the flip side, Unilever Nigeria topped the gainers’ chart after adding N1.95 to its share value to close at N22.15 per share, while Cadbury Nigeria gained 65 kobo to finish at N10.25 per unit.

UPDC Reit rose by 35 kobo to settle at N3.95 per unit, Ecobank increased by 30 kobo to end at N6.30 per share, while Access Bank garnered 20 kobo to finish at N9.90 per share.