Presco, 23 Others Weaken NSE Index by 0.18%

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session of the week on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) commenced on a bearish note as investors take profit following gains recorded last week.

This led to the weakening of the All-Share Index (ASI) by 0.18 percent or 48.41 points to 27,650.28 points from 27,698.69 points and the market capitalization by N24 billion to N13.460 trillion from N13.484 trillion.

Business Post reports that the market breadth closed negative by 0.75x yesterday with 18 companies on the price gainers chart led by Forte Oil and 24 firms on the price losers table led by Presco.

Presco topped the decliners’ log with a loss of N4.45k to close at N40.35k per share, while UAC Nigeria followed with a decline of 75 kobo to settle at N7.15k per unit.

Nigerian Breweries went down by 55 kobo to finish at N52 each, Vitafoam depreciated by 42 kobo to close at N3.87k per share, while Dangote Cement fell by 40 kobo to end at N154.60k per share.

At the other side of the coin, Forte Oil raked N1.20k to close at N17.20k per share, while Cadbury Nigeria garnered 65 kobo to finish at N11.60k per unit.

NCR Nigeria appreciated by 45 kobo to settle at N4.95k per unit, Zenith Bank chalked up 30 kobo to close at N19 per share, while Eterna gained 25 kobo to finish at N3 per share.

The level of activity was poor on Monday as the volume and value of transactions depreciated by 38.30 percent and 85.01 percent respectively.

A total of 109.6 million shares worth N888.2 million exchanged hands in the trading session in 3,382 deals compared with the 177.8 million units valued at N5.9 billion transacted in the last session in 3,484 deals.

FBN Holdings closed as the most active stock, trading 20.3 million shares worth N114.3 million, while Transcorp followed with a total of 9.8 million equities sold for N10.3 million.

Access Bank exchanged 9.7 million shares valued at N70.3 million, UAC Nigeria transacted 5.8 million equities valued at N43.1 million, while Wapic Insurance traded 4.6 million shares for N1.6 million.