Stock Market Sheds N4bn as Investors Sell Off to Book Profit

By Dipo Olowookere

The market capitalisation of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) was reduced by N4 billion on Tuesday following renewed profit-taking by investors.

This left the total value of equities at the market at N13.354 trillion in contrast to N13.358 trillion it ended on Monday as a result of the 0.03 per cent loss yesterday.

In the same vein, the All-Share Index (ASI) decreased during the session by 7.63 points to 25,597.96 points from 25,605.59 points.

According to data obtained by Business Post, the market breadth closed negative yesterday with 15 price losers as against 13 price gainers.

Seplat was the heaviest price loser, depreciating by N5 to settle at N385 per share, while Red Star Express lost 23 kobo to close at N3.52 per unit.

Dangote Sugar declined in the session by 15 kobo to finish at N11.90 per share, while Oando and NAHCO depreciated by 13 kobo each to end at N2.25 per unit and N2 per share respectively.

On the gainers’ chart, Lafarge Africa sustained its recent revival, appreciating on Tuesday by 45 kobo to close at N13.50 per share and was trailed by CAP, which gained 20 kobo to trade at N17 per unit.

Ikeja Hotel and UAC Property garnered 8 kobo each to quote at 92 kobo per share and 95 kobo per share respectively, while GTBank gained 5 kobo to close at N25.15 per unit.

An analysis of the performance of the major sub-sectors of the market showed that the energy, banking and consumer goods sectors were the decliners, losing 1.16 per cent, 0.18 per cent and 0.10 per cent respectively.

However, the insurance and industrial goods counters appreciated during the session by 0.35 per cent and 0.21 per cent respectively.

For the activity chart, the volume of shares transacted by investors went down by 4.63 per cent to 245.1 million units from 257.0 million units, while the value of the trades dropped 9.25 per cent to N3.0 billion from N3.3 billion, with the number of deals rising by 0.84 per cent to 3,597 from 3,567.

FBN Holdings was the most active stock yesterday, transacting 51.4 million units worth N257.5 million and was followed by GTBank, which traded 46.3 million units valued at N1.2 billion.

Zenith Bank exchanged 18.8 million stocks worth N322.4 million, Stanbic IBTC traded 16.0 million equities for N630.0 million, while Access Bank transacted 14.2 million shares valued at N95.8 million.