Stocks Shed N101b in First Trading Session After Christmas

By Dipo Olowookere

The first trading session on the floor of the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE) after the Christmas holiday ended on a negative note on Thursday.

This was because profit-taking by investors left the market down by 0.86 percent with the year-to-date loss closing at -17.13 percent at the close of business.

It was discovered that lukewarm performance of Dangote Cement contributed to the downfall of the equities market today as the counter declined by N6.30k to close at N187.70k per share.

Total Nigeria depreciated by N4 to end at N196 per share, while UAC of Nigeria crashed by N1.20k to finish at N10.80k per share.

Flour Mills dropped 45 kobo of its share value to quote at N21.10k per share, while FBN Holdings fell by 40 kobo to settle at N8.20k per share.

On the other hand, Forte Oil put up a good performance and was rewarded with a N3.10k gain to close at N34.35k per share.

Conoil appreciated by N2.10k to end at N23.10k per share, while Nigerian Breweries rose by 40 kobo to settle at N82.50k per share.

Eterna also gained 40 kobo to finish at N5 per share, while Newrest ASL Nigeria went up by 35 kobo to quote at N7.25k per unit.

For the major market indices, the market capitalisation depreciated by N101 billion today to close at N11.576 trillion, while the All-Share Index (ASI) reduced by 274.38 points to settle at 31,692.63 points.

Transactions at the market on Thursday were dull as reflected in the volume and value of share traded by investors, which decreased by 36.75 percent and 49.78 percent respectively.

While the volume of shares went down to 452.3 million from 715 million, the value dropped to N2.6 billion from N5.2 billion.

These trades were dominated by the Financial Services sector with a turnover of 236.6 million equities sold for N1.7 billion, while the Services industry followed with a turnover of 153.4 million shares exchanged for N305 million.

A further analysis showed that Med-View Airline was investors’ delight at the market today, trading a total of 147 million units worth N293.9 million.

NEM Insurance followed with 46 million units sold for N135.6 million, while Transcorp transacted 37.5 million equities valued at N49 million. Fidelity Bank exchanged 30.7 million shares worth N61.1 million, while Access Bank sold 30.4 million equities worth N213 million.