NSE LIVE! Equities lose N44b in opening trades

The downtrend at the Nigerian stock market continued on Monday as investors remained uncertain about the direction of the flexible foreign exchange policy of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Against the background of a loss of N138 billion last week, equities lost N44 billion in the first trading session of this week.

The All Share Index (ASI)-the value-based index that tracks prices of quoted equities on the Nigerian Stock Exchange (NSE), dropped by 0.47 per cent from 27,232.62 points to 27,103.38 points. Aggregate market value of all quoted equities dropped from N9.353 trillion to close at N9.309 trillion, indicating a loss of N44 billion. Average year-to-date return stood at -5.37 per cent.

Most sectoral indices closed in the negative, underlining the continuing selling sentiments across the sectors. The NSE Industrial Goods Index declined by 2.0 per cent. The NSE Insurance Index dropped by 0.8 per cent. The NSE Consumer Goods Index slipped by 0.7 per cent while the NSE Oil & Gas Index declined by 0.5 per cent. Meanwhile, the NSE Banking Index was the contrarian sector with an increase of 0.8 per cent.

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There were 22 losers to 15 gainers. Nestle Nigeria led the losers with a loss of N22.98 to close at N757. Lafarge Africa followed with a loss of N3.51 to close at N76.50. Dangote Cement declined by N1.20 to close at N163.80. Cadbury Nigeria dropped by 51 kobo to close at N18. International Breweries lost 48 kobo to close at N19.50. Beta Glass dropped by 40 kobo to close at N42.83. Oando declined by 35 kobo to close at N6.65. Berger Paints lost 30 kobo to close at N8 while Dangote Sugar Refinery dropped by 16 kobo to close at N6.33.

Total turnover stood at 152.32 million shares valued at N2.29 billion in 3,406 deals. FBN Holdings was the most active stock with a turnover of 40.05 million shares valued at N151.09 million. FCMB Group followed with a turnover of 19.14 million shares valued at N30.59 million. Zenith Bank recorded a turnover of 11.05 million shares worth N165.69 million.

Analysts blamed the downtrend on the delay in the release of the guidelines on the flexible foreign exchange policy of the CBN.

“The bearish close to today’s trading session was in line with our expectation of a restrained performance in equities due to uncertainty regarding the CBN’s forex policy unveiling and broader investors’ concern on economic and company fundamentals,” Afrinvest Securities.

On the upside, Unilever Nigeria led the gainers with a gain of N1.02 to close at N33.02. Forte Oil rose by 99 kobo to close at N197.99. Guinness Nigeria added 35 kobo to close at N98. Access Bank chalked up 23 kobo to close at N5.75 while Champion Breweries gained 16 kobo to close at N2.87 per share.

 

 

 

 

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