Panic as Nigerian Stock Market Records Fourth Consecutive Loss

By Dipo Olowookere

For the fourth consecutive session, trading activities on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) ended bearish on Thursday.

During the session, the market depreciated by 0.51 per cent on the back of sustained negative sentiment as investors are beginning to give the fixed income market a second shot as a result of the rise in yields in the space.

This is already making some investors to trim their portfolios, while those who entered the market when prices hit their peaks are getting agitated.

Yesterday, the market breadth closed negative as shares of 25 companies depreciated in price compared with the shares of 22 firms declining at the session.

Dangote Cement was the worst-performing stock on Thursday, depreciating by N6 to settle at N230 per unit and was trailed by Julius Berger, which lost N1.30 to sell at N19.70 per share.

Northern Nigerian Flour Mills declined by 87 kobo to sell at N7.88 per unit, Champion Breweries fell by 33 kobo to sell at N3.06 per share, while Zenith Bank dropped 20 kobo to N26.75 per unit.

On the other hand, Ardova topped the gainers’ table as it appreciated by N1 to trade at N19 per share, Presco grew by 50 kobo to quote at N75 per unit, May & Baker rose by 35 kobo to N4.90 per share, FCMB gained 18 kobo to close at N3.50 per unit, while Eterna appreciated by 15 kobo to N5.75 per share.

Business Post reports that investors traded 629.4 million shares worth N8.0 billion in 4,753 deals compared with the 504.8 million equities worth N5.3 billion transacted in 5,887 deals on Wednesday, indicating 24.68 per cent rise in the trading volume, 50.29 per cent growth in the trading value and 19.26 decline in the number of deals.

FBN Holdings ended the session as the most active stock, selling 126.4 million units worth N923.2 million and was trailed by GTBank, which exchanged 87.2 million units valued at N2.9 billion.

Union Bank traded 78.4 million shares for N455.0 million, FCMB transacted 66.5 million equities valued at N232.2 million, while Transcorp traded 41.0 million stocks valued at N41.3 million.

A look at the performance of the sectors showed that the industrial goods index depreciated by 1.19 per cent, the insurance counter went down by 1.11 per cent, the banking space lost 0.31 per cent, while the consumer goods sector fell by 0.13 per cent. Only the energy counter closed bullish yesterday as it grew by 0.32 per cent.

At the close of transactions, the All-Share Index (ASI) declined by 214.21 points to 41,785.80 points from 42,000.01 points, while the market capitalisation reduced by N112 billion to N21.859 trillion from N21.971 trillion.